i 


SIDE-  LIGHTS 
ON    AMERICAN    HISTORY 


'*&&& 


SIDE    LIGHTS 


AMERICAN  HISTORY 


BY 


HENRY   W.    ELSON,   A.M. 

LECTURER  OF  THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY   FOR  THE  EXTENSION 

OF  UNIVERSITY  TEACHING 

AUTHOR  OF  "  HISTORICAL  BIOGRAPHIES  FOR  CHILDREN  " 

"  WHAT  TO   READ/'   ETC. 


Volume  I 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON:   MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Ltd. 
I908 

All  rights  reserved 


I* 


Copyright,  1899, 
By  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 

Set  up  and  electrotyped.  Published  May,  1899.  Reprinted 
September,  1899;  May,  September,  November,  twice,  1900; 
March,  August,  1902;   March,  1905  ;  February,  1908. 

New  edition,  two  volumes  in  one,  September,  1906. 


KToruJooti  $«0g 

J.  S.  dishing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 

Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

History  can  be  presented  to  us  only  by 
means  of  pictures,  reproductions  of  that  which 
we  cannot  directly  witness. 

If  you  study  a  city  from  photographs,  the 
general  bird's-eye  view  is  necessary  to  give  you 
the  relative  size  and  location  of  things  ;  but  such 
a  view  is  not  enough.  You  must  have  pictures, 
on  a  larger  scale,  of  a  busy  street,  a  mammoth 
office  building,  a  public  park,  the  interior  of  a 
workshop,  and  the  like.  The  ordinary  school 
history  furnishes  the  bird's-eye  view  of  our  coun- 
try's origin  and  growth ;  the  present  volume 
aims  to  give  a  more  detailed  account  —  a  pic- 
ture on  a  larger  scale  —  of  some  of  the  chief 
events  in  our  history.  It  is  intended  not  to 
replace  the  text-book,  but  to  supplement  it. 

The  text-book  gives  the  succession  of  events 
and,  in  some  measure,  their  relative  importance ; 
but,  owing  to  the  multitude  of   subjects  to  be 


320291 


VI  PREFACE 

treated  within  the  limits  of  a  small  volume,  none 
can  be  exhaustively  dealt  with.  It  is  impossible 
for  any  writer,  however  skilful,  to  relate  his- 
torical facts  in  a  form  so  condensed  as  that  of 
the  average  text-book,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
give  them  that  living  interest  so  necessary  in 
holding  the  attention  of  young  readers.  The 
text-book  is  useful  and  indispensable;  it  is  the 
index  that  points  to  the  vast  wealth  of  knowl- 
edge that  may  be  found  in  our  historical  litera- 
ture ;  it  furnishes  the  groundwork  on  which 
rests  the  entire  structure  of  historic  knowledge. 
But  unfortunately  the  text-book  too  often  is 
little  more  than  a  chronicle  of  events,  an  array 
of  dates  and  facts,  a  skeleton  without  flesh, 
without  life,  without  soul.  Such  a  book  is  ill 
adapted  to  awaken  an  interest  in  historical 
study,  and  can  be  used  successfully  in  the 
schools  only  in  connection  with  other  works 
as  supplementary  reading.  Used  in  this  way 
the  skeleton  of  the  text-book  may  be  clothed 
with  flesh  and  have  breathed  into  it  the  breath 
of  life. 

Our  learned  and  more  exhaustive  historical 
works  are  beyond  the  reach  of  most  busy  peo- 


PREFACE  Vll 

pie,  nor  are  they  adapted  to  use  in  the  schools. 
Between  these  two  extremes,  the  condensed 
text-book  and  the  ponderous  volumes  of  the 
historian,  we  find  many  books  of  great  value  — 
biographies,  memoirs,  histories  of  limited  periods 
or  of  particular  localities  —  but  none  of  these, 
as  far  as  the  author  knows,  is  fitted  for  the 
use  of  schools  or  was  prepared  with  that  end 
in  view. 

-  This  work  covers  a  field  not  hitherto  covered. 
It  has  been  written  for  the  general  reader,  as 
well  as  for  use  in  schools  of  the  grammar-school 
grade  and  of  the  grades  immediately  above  it. 
It  is  hoped  that  the  book  may  also  be  found  a 
pleasant  review  to  the  busy  teacher,  who  has 
many  things  to  teach  and  who  finds  it  impossi- 
ble to  become  a  specialist  in  everything. 

The  period  covered  is  the  first  seventy  years 
of  our  national  history ;  but  no  attempt  to  give 
a  connected  history  of  that  period  has  been 
made.  At  the  same  time  much  care  has  been 
taken  to  show  the  bearing  of  one  great  event 
upon  another,  their  causes  and  results,  and  the 
part  each  bore  in  making  our  civilization  what 
it  is. 


Vlll  PREFACE 

The  subjects  treated  in  the  various  chapters 
have  been  selected  with  the  utmost  care.  The 
aim  has  been  to  choose  out,  not  the  dramatic 
and  exciting,  but  the  strategic  points,  the  pivots 
on  which  the  ponderous  machinery  of  our  his- 
tory has  turned.  This  is  true  of  most  of  the 
chapters.  A  few,  however,  such  as  "Wash- 
ington's Inauguration,"  "  Conspiracy  of  Aaron 
Burr,"  "The  Campaign  of  1840,"  and  the  "Un- 
derground Railroad,"  have  been  chosen  with  a 
view  of  picturing  the  state  of  society  at  the  time 
treated. 

In  order  that  every  important  aspect  of  our 
national  growth  be  presented  to  the  reader,  the 
subjects  chosen  are  as  unlike  in  character  as 
practicable,  and  the  events  have  been  related 
with  greater  detail  than  is  possible  in  the  ordi- 
nary school  history.  This  has  been  done  at  the 
sacrifice  of  leaving  out  many  subjects  of  almost 
equal  importance  with  those  selected.  Minor 
incidents  and  details  in  history,  often  insignifi- 
cant in  themselves,  are,  like  illustrations  in  a 
sermon  or  lecture,  useful  for  the  light  they 
throw  on  more  important  matters. 

The   authorities  consulted  in  preparing  this 


PREFACE  IX 

work  are  far  more  numerous  than  indicated  in 
the  foot-note  references.  Those  given  are 
chiefly  the  works  most  likely  to  be  accessible 
to  the  reader  who  may  be  stimulated  to  further 
research. 

H.  W.  E. 

Philadelphia,  Pa., 
May,  1899. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   I 
Declaration  of  Independence 


Love  of  the  Colonists  for  England    . 

PAGE 

3 

Causes  that  led  to  Independence 

6 

Progress  toward  Independence 

IO 

A  View  of  Congress          .... 

.       14 

The  Final  Act  in  the  Great  Drama  . 

.       17 

CHAPTER   II 

Framing  of  the  Constitution 

Condition  of  the  Country  after  the  Revolution 
Defects  in  the  Articles  of  Confederation 
Quarrels  of  the  States 
The  Annapolis  Convention 
The  Constitutional  Convention 
The  Three  Great  Compromises 
The  Constitution  before  the  People 
xi 


25 
28 

32 
35 
37 
42 
48 


Xll  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   III 
The  Inauguration  of  Washington 

PAGE 

The  Unanimous  Election 54 

The  Triumphal  March 57 

New  York's  Welcome 61 

CHAPTER   IV 
The  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws 

Political  Parties  One  Hundred  Years  Ago         .         .  65 

Folly  of  the  Federal  Party 68 

Sedition  Law  in  Operation 72 

The  Kentucky  and  Virginia  Resolutions  ...  76 

CHAPTER   V 

Fulton  and  the  Steamboat 

Fulton's  Predecessors 82 

Early  Life  of  Robert  Fulton 85 

Fulton  in  Foreign  Lands 87 

The  Clermont  on  the  Hudson  .        .        .        .90 

CHAPTER  VI 

The  Lewis  and  Clarke  Expedition 

Ascending  the  Missouri 99 

On  to  the  Pacific 104 

The  Return  to  the  United  States      .        .        .        .110 
An  Indian  Story ill 


CONTENTS  xiii 

CHAPTER   VII 
Conspiracy  of  Aaron  Burr 

PAGE 

Aaron  Burr 117 

The  Great  Conspiracy       .         .         .        ,         .         .125 

The  Arrest  and  the  Trial 130 

Theodosia 138 

Later  Life  of  Aaron  Burr 144 

CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Missouri  Compromise 

Slavery  during  the  Colonial  Period  .  .  .  .149 
Slavery  under  the  Constitution  .  .  .  .  155 
The  Sixteenth  Congress 161 

CHAPTER   IX 


The  Monroe  Doctrine 


How  this  Doctrine  Originated  . 
The  Monroe  Doctrine  in  Operation 
Cuba  and  Mexico 
Venezuela         .... 
Remarks  on  the  Monroe  Doctrine 


168 

173 
179 
185 
191 


CHAPTER  X 

Lafayette's  Visit 

A  Nation's  Welcome 195 

At  the  Capitol 200 

Mount  Vernon  and  Bunker  Hill        ....     203 


XIV  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XI 
The  Caroline  Affair 


PAGE 


The  Canadian  Rebellion 209 

Destruction  of  the  Caroline 212 

Arrest  and  Trial  of  McLeod 217 

CHAPTER  XII 

The  Campaign  of  1840  • 

The  Whig  Convention 225 

William  Henry  Harrison  229 

The  Log  Cabin  and  Hard  Cider  Campaign       .        .    232 
Last  Days  of  President  Harrison      ....    237 

CHAPTER  XIII 
Discovery  of  Gold  in  California 


243 


Sutter's  Sawmill 

The  "Forty-Niners" 248 

A  View  of  the  Miners  and  the  Mines        .        .        .251 
California  in  National  Politics  ....    257 

CHAPTER  XIV 
The  Underground  Railroad 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Law 265 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  in  Operation       .        .         .271 
Working  of  the  Underground  Railroad     .         .         .     275 


CONTENTS  XV 

CHAPTER  XV 
The  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill 

PAGE 

Presidential  Election  of  1852 295 

Stephen  A.  Douglas 300 

Reception  of  the  Bill  at  the  North     ....  306 

Results  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Law        .         .         .  308 

CHAPTER  XVI 

The  Lincoln-Douglas  Debates 

A  View  of  the  Two  Men 310 

Preliminaries 313 

The  Challenge          . 318 

Extracts 324 

The  Freeport  Doctrine 328 

The  Result 332 

CHAPTER  XVII 

History  of  Political  Parties 

The  Earliest  Political  Parties 339 

The  Federal  Party 341 

The  Democratic  Party 345 

The  Whig  Party 351 

The  Republican  Party      ......  354 


XVI 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

Relation  of  the  States  to  the  Nation 

Origin  of  the  States  and  of  the  Union 
Three  Kinds  of  Governments,  Consolidated,  Fed- 
eral, and  Confederate 
National  and  State  Laws 
National  and  State  Authority    . 
Advantages  of  the  Federal  System 
States'  Rights  .... 


PAGB 
362 

365 
368 

371 
376 
381 


Index 385 


SIDE   LIGHTS 
ON   AMERICAN    HISTORY 


SIDE    LIGHTS    ON    AMERICAN 
HISTORY 

CHAPTER  I 

Declaration  of  Independence 

It  is  generally  considered  that  the  most 
important  single  event  in  the  history  of  this 
Western  World  is  the  adopting  of  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence,  at  Philadelphia,  by 
the  Continental  Congress,  on  July  4,  1776. 
This  was  the  crowning  act  of  the  Revolu- 
tion ;  without  it  there  would  have  been  no 
Revolution. 

The  word  "revolution/'  when  used  in  a 
political  sense,  means  a  fundamental  change 
of  government.  If,  therefore,  the  colonists 
had  not  succeeded  in  gaining  their  freedom 
and  changing  their  form  of  government,  the 
war  would  be  known  in  history  as  simply  a 
rebellion. 


2  SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  did  not 
win  independence;  it  was  simply  an  act  of 
Congress,  declaring  what  the  people  desired, 
what  they  felt  of  right  belonged  to  them, 
what  they  determined  to  fight  for.  They  all 
knew  that  it  would  require  long  years  of 
bloody  war  to  achieve  their  object.  But  it  is 
true  that  the  time  of  deciding,  of  determining 
on  any  act,  is  the  supreme  moment.  All  the 
effort  that  may  follow  in  carrying  out  the 
decision,  is,  compared  with  the  decision  itself, 
as  the  body  to  the  soul.  The  moment  the 
colonists  decided  on  independence  was  the 
supreme  moment  of  the  Revolution ;  and 
the  declaring  of  that  decision  may  rightly  be 
deemed  an  event  of  such  far-reaching  impor- 
tance that  nothing  else  in  American  History 
can  be  compared  with  it. 

Our  school  histories  all  tell  something  about 
this  Declaration  of  Independence;  but  they 
have  so  many  things  to  tell  that  only  a  short 
space  can  be  given  even  to  such  an  event. 
What  schoolboy  or  schoolgirl  would  not  like 
to  know  more  of  this  Declaration  —  how  it 
was  brought  about,  and  who  did  most  to  bring 


DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE  3 

it  about  ?  Let  us  devote  this  chapter  to  the 
subject. 

We  celebrate  the  Fourth  of  July  as  our 
National  Birthday;  but  the  2d  of  July  was 
the  real  original  Independence  day.  John 
Adams  wrote  on  the  evening  of  July  2,  1776: 
"This  day  will  be  the  most  memorable  in  the 
history  of  America;  to  be  celebrated  by  suc- 
ceeding generations  as  the  great  anniversary 
festival,  commemorated  as  the  day  of  deliver- 
ance, by  solemn  acts  of  devotion  to  God 
Almighty,  from  one  end  of  the  continent  to 
the  other,  from  this  time  forward  forever- 
more." 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  not 
the  result  of  a  sudden  burst  of  enthusiasm, 
finding  expression  in  a  rash  act  of  Congress  ; 
it  was  a  growth,  a  deliberate  step  of  the  whole 
people. 

Love  of  the  Colonists  for  England 

The  filial  love  of  the  colonists  for  England 
was  very  strong.  The  intensity  of  that  love 
seems  remarkable  when  we  consider  that  most 
of  the  Americans  were  native  born,  few  had 


4  SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

ever  seen  England,  and  the  ancestors  of  many 
had  been  driven  from  that  country  on  account 
of  their  religion.  Yet  their  hope  of  reconcilia- 
tion with  the  King  was  deep-seated;  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war  few  indeed  thought  of 
independence,  and  when  it  first  began  to  be 
talked  about,  it  was  very  unpopular. 

In  November,  1775,  five  months  after  the 
battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  the  legislature  or 
assembly  of  Pennsylvania  instructed  its  dele- 
gates in  Congress  "to  dissent  from  and  ut- 
terly reject  any  propositions,  should  such  be 
made,  that  may  cause  or  lead  to  a  separation 
from  our  mother  country."  1 

The  legislature  of  New  Jersey  followed  a 
few  weeks  later  in  almost  the  same  language. 
In  December  the  Maryland  convention  de- 
clared that  the  people  of  that  province 
"never  did  nor  do  entertain  any  views  or 
desires  on  independency."  New  York  and 
Delaware  followed  with  similar  statements; 
and  we  hear  the  same  voice  from  the  provin- 
cial congresses  of  New  Hampshire  and  North 
Carolina. 

1  See  Frothingham's  "  Rise  of  the  Republic,"  p.  466. 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE  5 

George  Washington  wrote  a  letter  the  pre- 
ceding year,  in  which  we  find  this  expres- 
sion, "  I  am  well  satisfied  that  no  such  thing 
as  independence  is  desired  by  any  thinking 
man  in  all  North  America."  Years  later  he 
said  that  when  he  took  command  of  the  army 
at  Boston  he  still  abhorred  the  idea  of  inde- 
pendence. Many  more  examples  could  be 
given,  but  these  show  the  general  feeling  dur- 
ing the  first    year  of    the  Revolutionary  War. 

At  the  same  time  there  were  a  few  men, 
who,  from  the  beginning,  seemed  to  foresee 
the  end,  and  these  were  unwearied  in  their 
efforts  to  attain  that  end.  Joseph  Warren  of 
Massachusetts,  the  patriot-hero  who  gave  his 
life  for  the  cause  at  Bunker  Hill,  used  these 
prophetic  words  at  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
"  America  must  and  will  be  free ;  the  contest 
may  be  severe;  the  end  will  be  glorious." 
Samuel  Adams,  the  most  intimate  friend  of 
Warren,  and  James  Otis  of  the  same  colony 
were  among  the  few  earliest  leaders  for  inde- 
pendence. But,  as  stated  above,  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  clung  to  the  mother  coun- 
try with  childlike  affection,  and  frowned  upon 


6  SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

every  suggestion  of  a  separation.  How,  then, 
came  the  spirit  of  independence  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  American  heart?  The  fact  is 
the  people  were  driven  and  goaded  to  do  as 
they  did.  No  other  course  was  left  them  but 
abject  servitude. 

Causes  that  led  to  Independence 

We  wonder  more  at  the  slowness  than  at 
the  haste  of  the  colonists  to  seize  the  great 
prize.  After  being  insulted  with  the  hated 
Stamp  Act,  the  Mutiny  Act,  the  Boston  Port 
Bill,  and  other  indignities,  they  still  longed  for 
a  reconciliation  with  England.  Their  petitions 
to  the  King  were  full  of  undeserved  and  al- 
most fulsome  praise  for  his  Majesty,  while 
they  blamed  Parliament  for  all  the  trouble. 
But  this  was  all  changed  within  a  year.  Their 
yearning  for  a  reconciliation  was  changed  to 
a  determination  never  to  be  reconciled.  No 
longer  did  they  deal  with  Parliament;  they 
ignored  the  crouching  whelps,  and  grappled 
with  the  old  lion  himself.  What  brought  about 
this  great  change  ?  The  chief  causes  are 
few. 


DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE  7 

First :  The  reception  of  the  last  petition  to 
the  King.  This  petition  was  agreed  on  by 
Congress  in  midsummer,  1775.  It  had  been 
suggested  by  John  Jay  of  New  York,  and 
drawn  up  by  John  Dickinson  of  Pennsylvania, 
both  eminent  men,  true  patriots,  but  wholly 
averse  at  that  time  to  independence.  The  pe- 
tition expressed  the  tenderest  regard  for  the 
person  of  the  King ;  it  recited  the  wrongs 
that  the  colonists  had  endured ;  it  then  begged 
in  the  most  respectful  language  that  these 
wrongs  be  righted,  that  the  old-time  harmony 
be  restored,  so  that  the  Americans  could  live 
in  happiness  and  contentment  under  the  Brit- 
ish flag.  The  petition  was  sent  to  the  King 
by  a  special  messenger,  Richard  Penn,  who 
was  a  Tory.  Penn  hastened  away  with  high 
hopes,  and  the  hopes  of  America  went  with 
him.  He  reached  London  late  in  August. 
America  waited  breathless  for  the  result.  The 
eyes  of  all  turned  almost  appealingly  toward 
England. 

The  answer  came  late  in  October.  It  as- 
tonished everybody.  The  King  had  declined 
to  receive  the  petition  at  all,  and   refused   to 


8  SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

see  the  messenger  that  brought  it !  Sadly  the 
people  heard  the  news,  and  their  sadness  was 
mingled  with  anger  and  resentment.  King 
George  III.  had  thus  taken  a  fatal  step 
toward  estranging  forever  his  subjects  in  the 
Western  Hemisphere. 

Second :  The  King's  proclamation.  On  the 
next  day  after  the  result  of  the  petition  was 
published  in  the  Philadelphia  newspapers,  the 
King's  proclamation  was  laid  before  the  Ameri- 
can public.  In  this  document  King  George  had 
declared  the  colonists  in  a  state  of  rebellion, 
and  no  longer  under  his  protection.  This  was 
another  stunning  blow.  The  people  were  ex- 
asperated in  the  extreme.  The  King  expected 
to  frighten  them  into  submission,  but  the  op- 
posite effect  resulted.  Independence,  that  had 
been  only  whispered  here  and  there,  was  now 
talked  of  openly  on  all  sides. 

Congress  assumed  a  bolder  tone.  It  an- 
swered the  King's  proclamation,  almost  defi- 
antly. It  appointed  committees  to  correspond 
with  foreign  nations,  and  talked  no  more 
reconciliation,  nor  put  forth  disclaimers  of 
independence.     This  was  in   the    first   part  of 


DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE  Q 

November,  1775,  and  from  this  day  forward 
the  united  colonies  took  no  step  backward 
in  the  great  march  toward  freedom.  King 
George  had  made  another  blunder  —  had  taken 
another  fatal  step. 

Third :  The  employment  of  foreign  aid. 
The  King  of  England  sent  an  army  of  for- 
eigners, known  as  Hessians,  hired  for  the 
purpose,  into  the  colonies  to  fight  against  his 
own  subjects!  Nor  was  this  all;  he  stirred 
up  the  savage  Indians  against  the  Americans 
whenever  possible,  knowing  full  well  that  war- 
fare with  them  meant  the  murdering  of  the 
innocent  —  the  mother  and  the  babe  —  in  ad- 
dition to  ordinary  warfare.  The  cruel  murder 
of  hundreds  of  innocent  men,  women,  and 
children  along  the  frontier  during  the  Revo- 
lution must  be  laid  at  the  door  of  George  the 
Third. 

The  colonists  were  now  convinced  that  their 
sovereign  did  not  love  them.  He  cared  for 
America  only  from  selfish  motives,  only  for 
what  he  could  make  out  of  it  for  commerce 
and  taxation.  Could  the  Americans,  as  a  self- 
respecting  people,  continue   their  allegiance  to 


IO        SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

such    a  man,  and  to  the  country  of  which  he 
was  the  sovereign  ? 

Progress  toward  Independence 

As  soon  as  the  full  meaning  of  the  attitude 
of  the  obstinate  King  had  taken  hold  of  the 
public  mind,  the  air  was  filled  with  shouts  of 
defiance,  and  calls  for  independence.  The 
people  discussed  the  subject  in  town  meet- 
ings, on  the  streets,  in  the  fields,  and  at  their 
firesides.  The  belief  everywhere  was  that  a 
reconciliation  was  impossible,  and  submission 
meant  slavery.  The  spirit  of  independence 
spread  from  New  England  to  Georgia,  and 
took  a  powerful  hold  upon  the  people.  It  is 
true,  the  feeling  was  not  unanimous.  There 
were  many  Tories  to  the  end ;  and  even  of  the 
Whigs,  especially  in  the  middle  colonies,  many 
hesitated  and  counselled  delay.  But  the  great 
body  of  the  people  came  to  favor,  during  the 
winter  and  following  spring,  a  final  break  with 
England. 

Public  opinion  was  moulded  largely  by  the 
newspapers  and  by  pamphlets.  A  pamphlet, 
called  "  Common  Sense,"   written   by  Thomas 


DECLARATION   OF  INDEPENDENCE  II 

Paine,  converted  thousands.  A  great  speech 
of  Patrick  Henry  before  the  Virginia  Conven- 
tion was  published  broadcast,  and  became  a 
powerful  force  in  moulding  the  public  mind. 

But  the  man  who  stood  first  among  the 
leaders  of  public  opinion  was  Samuel  Adams 
of  Massachusetts.  Adams  was  a  man  of  broad 
views  and  of  the  purest  motives.  He  had 
been  among  the  few  who  foresaw  the  end 
from  the  beginning.  From  the  first  he  had 
opposed  all  petitions  to  the  throne,  and  noth- 
ing made  him  happier  than  the  contempt  with 
which  the  King  received  them,  for  in  this  he 
saw  independence.  He  believed  in  a  glorious 
future  for  America;  but  first  the  colonies 
must  be  free  from  England,  and  to  attain  that 
end  he  ceased  not  to  labor  day  and  night, 
until  the  object  of  his  heart  was  won.  May 
the  name  of  Samuel  Adams  ever  be  honored 
by  the  American  people. 

Not  far  behind  this  man  in  the  great  fight 
we  must  place  his  cousin,  John  Adams,  who 
was  acknowledged  to  be  the  most  powerful 
debater  on  the  floor  of  Congress.  We  shall 
see  more  of  him  later.     There  are  many  other 


12        SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

great  names  of  that  period  with  which  every 
schoolboy  is  familiar. 

The  idea  of  independence  gained  rapidly  all 
through  the  winter,  and  before  many  months 
of  the  year  1776  had  passed,  a  large  major- 
ity of  the  people  favored  it.  But  there  had 
been  nothing  done  officially.  The  colonies 
were  still,  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  subject 
to  England.  It  was  April  before  any  colony 
made  an  official  move  for  independence. 

To  North  Carolina  must  be  awarded  the 
honor  of  being  first  to  act  as  a  colony  on 
this  great  subject.1  On  April  the  12th  its 
provincial  congress  instructed  its  delegates  in 
the  general  Congress  at  Philadelphia,  "  To 
concur  with  the  delegates  of  the  other  colo- 
nies in  declaring  independency  and  forming 
foreign  alliances."  This  movement  was  led 
by  Cornelius  Harnet,  who  was  called  the 
Samuel  Adams  of  North  Carolina.  This  was 
a  beginning  and  a  very  important  one.  Be- 
fore this  the  talk  of  separation  from  England 
had  all  been  private  talk;  now  there  was  offi- 
cial action    by  one  of    the    famous    Thirteen 

1  Frothingham,  p.  504. 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE  13 

The  meaning  was  far-reaching,  and  none  could 
mistake  that  meaning.  Not  long  did  North 
Carolina  stand  alone.  Rhode  Island  soon  fol- 
lowed, and  Massachusetts  came  third.  In 
Massachusetts  the  voice  of  the  people  was 
heard  through  town  meetings  held  all  over 
the  colony.  There  was  but  one  voice,  "  Free- 
dom, freedom  from  the  tyranny  of  British  rule." 

The  next  to  act  was  the  Old  Dominion, 
Virginia.  The  convention  met  at  Williams- 
burg on  the  6th  of  May.  That  convention 
listened  to  the  eloquent  Patrick  Henry,  whose 
burning  words  of  the  year  before  were  still 
ringing  through  the  land :  "  Is  life  so  dear, 
or  peace  so  sweet,  as  to  be  purchased  at  the 
price  of  chains  and  slavery  ?  Forbid  it,  Al- 
mighty God !  I  know  not  what  course  others 
will  take;  but  as  for  me,  give  me  liberty,  or 
give  me  death." 

In  that  convention  sat  George  Mason  at 
the  height  of  his  great  powers,  and  James 
Madison,  not  yet  twenty-five  years  old,  but  one 
of  the  keenest  and  profoundest  of  lawyers. 
The  Virginia  convention  went  farther  than 
any    that  acted  before  it.      It  instructed    its 


14        SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

delegates  in  Congress  to  actually  propose  in- 
dependence before  that  body.  This  bold  reso- 
lution was  immediately  sent  by  a  special 
messenger,  Colonel  Nelson,  to  the  Congress  at 
Philadelphia. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  South  and  New 
England  took  the  lead,  while  all  the  middle 
colonies  still  hesitated.  Let  us  now  see  what 
Congress  is  doing. 

A  View  of  Congress 

This  Second  Continental  Congress  was  so  im- 
portant, and  did  such  great  things  for  Amer- 
ica, that  it  is  fitting  that  we  notice  briefly  a 
few  of  its  leading  characters. 

Many  of  the  members  were  men  of  wealth,  and 
belonged  to  the  greatest  families  in  their  respec- 
tive colonies.  Many  attained  eminence  and  fame 
in  later  years ;  but  the  majority  are  unknown  to 
fame  except  through  this  one  act  —  signing  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  The  names  of  a 
few  are  familiar  in  every  home  in  the  land; 
such  are  those  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  writer 
of  the  immortal  document;  John  Adams,  the 
second  President;  and  Benjamin  Franklin,  whose 


DECLARATION   OF  INDEPENDENCE  lc 

fame  long  before  the  Revolution  extended  to 
the  utmost  bounds  of  civilization. 

The  three  greatest  of  the  colonies  were 
Virginia,  Massachusetts,  and  Pennsylvania,  and 
we  find  from  these  three  the  strongest  dele- 
gations in  Congress.  Virginia's  greatest  son 
was  in  the  field  at  the  head  of  the  army ;  but 
we  find  from  that  colony  still  remaining,  in 
addition  to  Jefferson,  Richard  Henry  Lee, 
who  had  been  educated  in  England,  one  of 
the  most  brilliant  statesmen  of  the  time,  and 
Benjamin  Harrison,  confidential  friend  of 
Washington,  the  father  of  one  President  and 
great-grandfather  of  another. 

From  Massachusetts  we  have  the  two 
Adamses,  John  Hancock,  one  of  the  richest 
merchants  of  New  England,  a  statesman  of 
high  qualities,  and  now  President  of  Con- 
gress; and  Elbridge  Gerry,  afterward  a  mem- 
ber of  the  famous  triple  mission  to  France  in 
l797>  governor  of  Massachusetts  and  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States. 

The  Pennsylvania  delegation  was  second  to 
none.  First,  always  first,  the  great  Frank- 
lin; next,  John   Dickinson,  of    the   same    age 


1 6       SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

as  Washington,  educated  in  London,  a  re- 
nowned writer  against  the  tyranny  of  Eng- 
land ;  truly  desirous  of  independence,  but, 
thinking  the  time  too  soon,  he  opposed  the 
measure  with  great  moral  courage.  Scarcely 
below  him  stands  James  Wilson.  His  name, 
like  that  of  Dickinson,  is  not  at  this  day  well 
known  to  the  masses  of  the  people.  He  was 
afterward  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  and 
professor  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania ; 
he  was  perhaps  the  most  learned  lawyer  in 
America.  Let  us  not  forget  Robert  Morris, 
the  wealthy  Philadelphia  merchant,  who  came 
forward  in  the  dark  days  of  the  Revolution 
and  supported  the  armies  for  a  time  from  his 
own  purse,  but  who  afterward  lost  his  fortune, 
and,  in  his  old  age,  to  the  lasting  disgrace  of 
the  United  States,  languished  for  several  years 
in  a  debtor's  prison ! 

There  were  men  of  note  in  this  Congress 
from  other  colonies.  There  was  Roger  Sher- 
man, the  shoemaker  statesman  from  Connecti- 
cut, who  "  never  said  a  foolish  thing  in  his  life," 
who  spent  all  the  rest  of  his  life,  nineteen  years, 
as  a  member  of  Congress ;  there  was  Caesar  Rod- 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE  lj 

ney  and  Thomas  McKean  of  Delaware,  and 
Francis  Hopkinson  of  New  Jersey ;  William 
Ellery  of  Rhode  Island  and  Samuel  Chase  of 
Maryland. 

Truly  it  was  an  illustrious  body  of  men. 
Here  were  future  presidents,  governors,  min- 
isters abroad,  cabinet  officers,  and  United 
States  senators.  Nearly  all  of  them  lived  to 
be  old,  and  to  see  the  new  Government  take 
its  place  among  the  nations ;  and  not  one  of 
them  ever  did  or  said  anything  to  bring  dis- 
honor upon  the  new-born  republic.  The  one 
who  survived  all  his  fellows  was  Charles  Car- 
roll of  Carrollton,  Maryland,  who  died  in  1832 
at  the  great  age  of  ninety-five  years. 

The  Final  Act  in  the  Great  Drama 

The  whole  country  was  astir  during  the 
spring  of  1776.  Perils  were  threatening  on 
every  hand.  The  Howes  were  moving  on 
New  York ;  Carleton  was  threatening  an  in- 
vasion from  the  north ;  a  British  fleet  was  har- 
assing the  southern  coast,  while  the  merciless 
Indian  was  plying  the  tomahawk  on  the  fron- 
tier.    But  the  patriots,  instead  of  being  awed 


1 8        SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

into  submission,  clamored  the  louder  for  in- 
dependence. This  showed,  not  only  a  noble 
patriotism,  but  a  courage  that  all  the  world 
must  admire.  A  great  English  writer  has 
said,  "America  was  never  so  great  as  on  the 
day  when  she  declared  her  independence." 

Congress  passed  in  May  a  resolution  per- 
mitting the  colonies  to  form  governments  of 
their  own  in  defiance  of  British  authority.  This 
was  true  revolution,  that  is,  a  changing  of 
their  form  of  government.  "  Is  not  America 
already  independent  ?  why  not  then  declare 
it?"  said  the  ever  vigilant  Samuel  Adams. 

Early  in  June  the  messenger  from  the  Vir- 
ginia convention  reached  Philadelphia.  What 
his  message  was  we  have  seen.  On  the 
7th,  Richard  Henry  Lee  offered  a  resolution 
which  was  seconded  by  John  Adams.  Here 
are  the  words  :  — 

"That  these  United  Colonies  are,  and  of 
right  ought  to  be  free  and  independent  States, 
that  they  are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to 
the  British  Crown,  and  that  all  political  con- 
nection between  them  and  the  State  of  Great 
Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be  totally  dissolved." 


DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE 


19 


This  was  the  true  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence ;  it  covered  the  whole  subject.  But  the 
resolution  was  not  now  voted  on.  After  three 
days  debate  it  was  laid  on  the  table  till  the 
1st  of  July.  Congress  thought  best  not  to 
be  hasty  in  dealing  with  so  great  a  subject. 
In  order  to  be  ready  to  act  when  the  right 
time  came,  a  committee  was  chosen  to  draw 
up  a  suitable  declaration.  This  committee  was 
chosen  by  ballot ;  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  re- 
ceiving the  highest  number  of  votes,  was  made 
chairman,  and  thus  became  the  writer  of  the 
immortal  paper.  The  other  members  of  the 
committee  were  Franklin,  John  Adams,  Roger 
Sherman,  and  Robert  Livingston.  Some  of 
the  colonies  had  not  yet  instructed  their  dele- 
gates to  act,  and  the  delegates  would  not 
vote  on  their  own  authority.  By  the  end  of 
June,  all  the  colonies  except  one,  New  York, 
had  granted  this  authority. 

On  the  morning  of  July  the  1st,  the  mem- 
bers sat  in  their  places ;  Lee's  motion  was 
taken  off  the  table  and  was  before  the  House ; 
but  no  one  said  a  word.  The  New  Jersey 
delegates,  who  had  just  arrived  requested  that 


20        SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

the  debate  of  three  weeks  before  be  repeated* 
that  they  might  fully  understand  the  subject. 
At  first  no  one  moved,  but  the  eyes  of  all 
turned  to  John  Adams.  He  saw  that  he  was 
expected  to  speak ;  he  had  made  no  prepara- 
tion, but  his  soul  was  burning  with  the  sub- 
ject. He  now  arose  and  made  a  speech  which 
was  no  doubt  the  most  powerful  one  delivered 
in  Congress  during  the  Revolutionary  period. 
Not  a  word  of  this  great  effort  has  been  pre- 
served ;  but  Daniel  Webster  has  given  us  the 
spirit  of  it  in  his  "  Supposed  Speech  of  John 
Adams." 

Several  members  opposed  the  declaration, 
the  leader  of  whom  was  Dickinson.  He  an- 
swered Adams  as  best  he  could;  but  he  was 
on  the  wrong  side,  and  years  afterward  he 
acknowledged  it.  The  vote  was  taken  on  the 
evening  of  the  next  day.  It  was  desirous  that 
no  colony  vote  against  the  measure.  Each 
colony  had  one  vote,  the  majority  of  the  dele- 
gates casting  it,  while  the  minority  counted  for 
nothing.  Delaware  had  three  delegates,  but 
one  of  them,  Caesar  Rodney,  was  absent  in 
Delaware,  and  of  the  two  present  one  was  on 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE  21 

each  side.  A  messenger  was  sent  with  all 
speed  for  Rodney.  On  hearing  the  news  he 
leaped  on  his  black  horse  and  started  at  full 
gallop  for  Philadelphia,  eighty  miles  away. 
All  day  and  all  night  he  sped  through  forests 
and  over  streams.1  This  was  a  greater  ride 
than  the  more  famous  one  of  Paul  Revere; 
the  more  remarkable  it  seems,  when  we  re- 
member that  Rodney  was  suffering  from  a 
cancer  in  the  face,  which  afterward  cost  him  his 
life.  He  reached  the  capital  city  just  in  time 
to  cast  his  vote  and  save  Delaware  for  freedom. 

The  majority  of  the  Pennsylvania  delegates 
opposed  independence  ;  but,  seeing  that  the  tide 
was  against  them,  and  not  wishing  their  colony 
to  be  the  only  one  to  vote  against  the  meas- 
ure, two  of  them  remained  away,  and  the  rest 
cast  the  vote  in  the  affirmative. 

The  resolution  for  independence  passed  on 
the  2d  of  July  by  the  unanimous  vote  of 
twelve  colonies,  New  York  not  voting.  The 
2d  of  July  is  therefore  the  real  natal  day 
of  the  United  States  —  we  must  call  them 
colonies  no  longer. 

1  Walton  and  Brumbaugh's  "  Stories  of  Pennsylvania,"  p.  180. 


22        SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

But  it  was  necessary  to  put  this  great  act 
into  a  fitting  form  of  words,  giving  reasons  for 
taking  the  step,  before  sending  it  forth  to  the 
world.  Jefferson  had  them  prepared.  His 
document  was  now  taken  up,  debated  for  two 
days,  changed  a  little  here  and  there,  and 
adopted  on  the  evening  of  the  4th.  The 
same  twelve  States  voted  as  on  the  2d. 
New  York  added  her  vote  a  few  days  later, 
and  the  whole  thirteen  were  now  agreed  on 
the  great  measure.  The  form  adopted  on  the 
4th  was  the  "  Declaration  of  Independence " 
with  which  we  are  all  familiar;  hence  the 
Fourth  of  July  has  become  our  National  Holi- 
day. When  the  Declaration  was  first  sent  out 
it  was  signed  only  by  the  President  of  Con- 
gress, John  Hancock,  and  by  the  Secretary, 
Charles  Thompson.  It  was  also  ordered  to 
be  engrossed  on  parchment;  this  was  finished 
in  several  weeks,  when  all  the  fifty-six  mem- 
bers signed  it,  most  of  them  on  the  2d  of 
August.  This  parchment  copy  is  now  in 
Washington,  kept  by  the  secretary  of  state. 

The  rest  of  the  story  is  well  known.  The 
old  Liberty  Bell  rang  out  the  glad  tidings  of 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE  23 

freedom.  Night  was  turned  into  day  with 
bonfires  and  illuminations.  The  Declaration 
was  read  in  cities,  towns,  and  villages,  from 
the  pulpit  in  the  churches,  from  the  public 
platform,  everywhere,  amid  shouts  of  joy  and 
gladness  from  the  people.  It  was  read  at  the 
head  of  each  brigade  of  the  army,  and  the 
roll  of  the  drum  and  the  roar  of  cannon  fur- 
nished the  glad  answer  of  the  patriot-soldiers. 
Thus  the  exultant  multitudes  welcomed  the 
new  day  that  was  dawning.  Thus  was  the 
United  States  of  America  launched  upon 
the  ocean  of  National  Life. 


CHAPTER   II 

Framing  of  the  Constitution 

If  there  is  one  thing  in  our  early  history 
that  approaches  in  importance  the  passing  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  it  is  the 
making  of  our  Constitution,  which  was  done 
eleven  years  later  in  the  same  building  of  the 
same  city.  In  one  sense  the  latter  is  of  more 
interest  to  us  all ;  the  Declaration  is  now  a 
historic  document  only,  highly  revered  by  all 
Americans,  it  is  true,  but  of  no  present  legal 
force;  while  the  Constitution  is  still  the  su- 
preme law  of  the  land.  The  Declaration  was 
called  for  by  the  people  from  all  parts.  Con- 
gress simply  ratified  their  wishes  in  passing 
it.  The  Constitution  cost  a  severe  and  pro- 
longed struggle  in  the  convention  that  framed 
it,  and  a  more  severe  and  more  prolonged 
struggle  in  the  various  States  before  being 
adopted. 


FRAMING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  25 

Condition  of  the  Country  after  the  Revolution 

Before  proceeding  to  an  account  of  the 
making  of  the  Constitution,  let  us  notice 
briefly  the  great  need  of  such  an  instrument 
—  the  condition  of  the  country  before  its 
adoption.  The  people  had  won  their  free- 
dom in  a  long  and  bloody  war  with  a  great 
nation,  but  at  the  close  of  the  war  the  coun- 
try was  in  a  sad  plight  —  no  money  to  pay 
the  soldiers  nor  the  foreign  debt,  and  no 
means  of  raising  money. 

The  Congress  had  assumed  the  burden  of 
the  war  and  had  adopted  measures  for  carry- 
ing it  on,  not  from  any  legal  authority,  but 
by  common  consent.  That  the  colonies  stick 
together  during  the  war  was  absolutely  nec- 
essary to  success ;  but  scarcely  was  the  war 
over  when  the  States  began  to  feel  their  im- 
portance and  to  disregard  the  laws  of  Con- 
gress. That  body  could  not  enforce  its  own 
laws,  it  could  only  recommend ;  and  any  re- 
fractory State  among  the  thirteen  could 
openly  and  successfully  defy  its  power.  Now 
it    is    evident    that    no    government    can    long 


26        SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

exist  if  it  has  not  power  to  enforce  its  own 
measures,  and  exactly  in  that  condition  do 
we  find  the  United  States  for  some  years 
after  the  Revolution. 

The  great  duty  devolved  upon  the  states- 
men of  that  day  to  organize  and  consolidate 
these  States  into  one  firm  and  compact  na- 
tion, and  at  the  same  time  to  retain  the  sep- 
arate State  governments  in  such  a  way  that 
State  laws  and  National  laws  would  not  con- 
flict, but  work  in  one  grand  harmony.  This 
would  secure  both  liberty  and  union.  These 
two,  Liberty  and  Union,  are  opposite  tenden- 
cies of  government,  and  they  can  exist  to- 
gether only  when  each  yields  part  of  its 
prestige  to  the  other.  Could  these  two,  Lib- 
erty and  Union,  be  so  balanced  in  the  same 
government  as  to  secure  the  benefits  of  both  ? 

It  was  a  great  problenie  It  was  a  problem 
that  the  ancient  world  labored  for  ages  to 
solve,  but  labored  in  vain.  Greece  walked 
forth  in  the  pride  of  her  freedom,  forgetting 
the  need  of  Union,  until  she  perished.  Rome 
made  the  opposite  mistake.  Rome  fostered 
and    exalted    Union   for   its    strength    until   it 


FRAMING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  27 

became  a  tyrant  and  strangled  the  child  Lib- 
erty. It  was  left  for  America  to  solve  the 
problem  whether  Liberty  and  Union  could  be 
joined  in  perpetual  wedlock,  and  the  world 
turned  with  wondering  eyes  to  the  new-born 
Republic  of  the  West  and  awaited  the  deci- 
sion whether  a  "government  of  the  people, 
by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,"  could 
endure  upon  the  earth. 

Before  the  war  the  thirteen  colonies  had 
been  joined  separately  to  England.  When 
that  bond  was  broken  they  found  themselves 
thirteen  separate  republics,  and  not  one  of 
them  strong  enough  to  maintain  its  freedom 
alone.  Yet  there  was  much  prejudice  against 
uniting,  as  each  was  jealous  of  its  own  liber- 
ties, and  the  people  feared  that  a  general 
government,  when  formed,  would  become  a 
tyrant,  as  England  had  been. 

Union  had  been  a  child  of  the  Revolution, 
called  forth  in  an  emergency,  and  for  a  spe- 
cial purpose,  but  was  now  no  longer  needful, 
especially  since  it  was  likely  to  encroach  upon 
that  other  child  still  dearer  to  the  American 
heart — Liberty.      It   was   this    feeling   among 


28        SIDE  LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

the  people  that  made  it  so  difficult  for  the 
statesmen  of  that  day  to  organize  the  govern- 
ment that  we  now  enjoy.  There  had  been 
adopted,  it  is  true,  a  constitution  known  as 
the  "  Articles  of  Confederation  "  ;  but  this  was 
a  rope  of  sand,  and  its  best  service  was  to 
teach  the  people  their  need  of  something 
better. 

Defects  in  the  Articles  of  Confederation 

At  different  times  during  the  colonial  period 
there  had  been  efforts  at  union.  The  first  of 
these,  dating  1643,  comprised  four  New  Eng- 
land colonies,  and  was  in  force  something  over 
forty  years.  Another  plan  of  union,  drawn 
up  by  Dr.  Franklin  at  the  Albany  Conven- 
tion of  1754,  was  rejected  by  the  colonies  as 
too  monarchical,  and  by  the  King  as  too 
democratic.  There  were  efforts  of  less  im- 
portance at  various  times,  but  we  pass  these 
by,  and  give  our  attention  to  the  period  be- 
fore us. 

In  July,  1776,  a  few  days  after  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  was  passed,  a  plan  of 
government  was  proposed  in  Congress.     It  was 


FRAMING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  29 

debated  for  a  short  time  and  then  laid  on  the 
table,  where  it  rested  for  over  a  year,  when  it 
was  again  taken  up  and  adopted.  This  instru- 
ment was  called  the  Articles  of  Confederation. 
It  contained  some  of  the  elements  of  our  pres- 
ent Constitution ;  but  it  provided  for  no  presi- 
dent, no  supreme  court,  and  only  one  house 
of  congress.  This  Congress  had  no  power 
over  commerce,  no  power  to  raise  taxes  ex- 
cept by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  States, 
and  it  dealt  with  the  States  as  units  and  not 
with  the  people  as  individuals.  We  can  read- 
ily see  how  weak  such  a  government  must 
be.  Let  us  notice  more  fully  a  few  of  these 
defects. 

First :  The  operation  of  National  law  on  a 
State  and  not  on  the  citizen.  The  citizen  had 
no  direct  relation  to  the  government ;  all  his 
political  relations  were  to  his  State.  If,  for 
example,  a  man  now  violates  a  postal  or  reve- 
nue law,  he  is  punished  directly  under  United 
States  laws,  and  the  State  in  which  the  of- 
fence is  committed  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  matter.  But  under  the  Articles  of  Con- 
federation,   Congress   had   no   such   power;    it 


30        SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

could  only  call  upon  the  State  in  which  the 
offence  was  committed  to  punish  the  offender, 
and  if  the  State  neglected  or  refused  to  do  so, 
there  was  no  power  to  force  it. 

Second :  There  was  no  executive  and  no 
judiciary  —  no  president  to  enforce  the  laws 
and  no  supreme  court  to  interpret  them.  This 
was  a  serious  defect  indeed. 

Third:  They  voted  in  Congress  by  States 
and  not  by  individual  members,  each  State 
having  one  vote,  regardless  of  its  size  and 
importance.  It  required  the  votes  of  nine 
States  to  carry  any  important  measure;  and 
sometimes  for  months  there  were  less  than 
nine  represented. 

Fourth  :  Congress  had  no  power  to  enforce 
any  law  whatever.  The  States,  knowing  this, 
had  little  regard  for  the  laws  of  Congress. 
The  Articles  forbade  any  State  to  wage  war 
or  make  a  treaty ;  yet  Georgia  did  both  with 
the  Creek  Indians.  The  States  were  for- 
bidden to  keep  troops  in  time  of  peace;  yet 
several  of  them  did  so.  They  were  forbidden 
to  enter  into  compacts ;  yet  Virginia  and 
Maryland    did    so    concerning    the    navigation 


FRAMING   OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  31 

of  the  Potomac  River ;  so  also  did  Pennsyl- 
vania and  New  Jersey  in  setting  the  bounds 
to  Delaware.1  The  Articles  were  constantly 
violated  by  the  different  States,  but  there  was 
no  power  to  prevent  such  violations. 

Fifth :  Congress  had  no  power  over  com- 
merce. This  was  a  most  glaring  defect. 
Our  agents  were  sent  abroad  to  make  treaties 
of  commerce,  and  any  treaty  thus  made  could 
be  set  aside  and  annulled  by  any  single  State 
in  the  Union.  The  result  was  that  foreign 
nations  refused  to  treat  with  us  and  our  for- 
eign commerce  was  in  a  most  deplorable 
condition. 

There  was  no  power  to  raise  taxes,  directly 
or  indirectly,  without  the  consent  of  every 
State.  In  1782  Congress  called  upon  the 
States  to  consent  to  a  five  per  cent  impost 
tariff,  so  as  to  raise  money  to  pay  the  sol- 
diers and  the  foreign  creditors.  Twelve  of 
the  States  acceded  to  this,  but  one  refused, 
little  Rhode  Island,  and  the  project  had  to 
fall  to  the  ground.     The  next  year  a  five  per 

1  MacMaster's  "  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States," 
Vol.  I.  p.  340. 


32        SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

cent  tariff,  limited  to  twenty-five  years,  was 
proposed.  Twelve  again  agreed  to  this,  in- 
cluding Rhode  Island,  but  this  time  New 
York  refused,  and  not  a  dollar  could  be 
raised. 

The  paper  money  known  as  continental 
money  became  so  depreciated  that  it  took 
one  hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars  to  pur- 
chase a  bushel  of  corn.  When  any  one 
wished  to  express  his  utmost  contempt  for 
the  value  of  anything,  he  would  say,  "  Not 
worth  a  continental,"  an  expression  we  still 
hear  sometimes.  Congress  was  penniless  and 
powerless ;  and  thoughtful  people  saw  that 
something  had  to  be  done,  and  that  soon. 

Quarrels  of  the  States 

Besides  the  impotency  of  Congress,  there 
was  continual  jealousy  among  the  States. 
The  small  States  feared  that  the  large  ones 
would  reduce  them  to  the  condition  of  sub- 
jects  ,*y^tnd,  in  fact,  Pennsylvania  and  New 
Ta^ey  came  near  doing  that  very  thing 
with  Delaware.  There  were  constant  quarrels 
among  the  States.     They  remind  us  of  a  lot 


FRAMING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  33 

of  school  children,  each  afraid  the  others 
would  gain  some  advantage.  New  York  and 
New  Hampshire  both  claimed  the  territory 
of  Vermont  and  were  about  to  fight  over  it. 
New  York  sent  troops  into  Vermont  and 
New  Hampshire  was  about  to  do  the  same. 
Vermont  was  plucky  and  bristled  up  like  a 
fighting  terrier,  and  was  about  to  fight  them 
both,  when  Washington  appeared  on  the 
scene  as  peacemaker.  Vermont  stuck  to  her 
claims,  and,  in  1791,  after  seeking  admission 
into  the  Union  for  fifteen  years,  became  the 
fourteenth  State. 

Another  State  quarrel  was  between  New 
York,  on  the  one  side,  and  New  Jersey  and 
Connecticut  on  the  other.  New  Jersey  sold 
a  great  deal  of  poultry  and  dairy  products  to 
New  York,  and  Connecticut  sold  firewood  to 
the  same  State.  Now  New  York  laid  a  tariff 
on  New  Jersey  poultry  and  Connecticut  fire- 
wood. Then  New  Jersey  retaliated  by  taxing 
New  York's  lighthouse  on  Sandy  Hook, 
while  Connecticut  got  even  by  boycotting 
New  York. 

But  the  most  serious  of  the  State  quarrels 

D 


34        SIDE.  LIGHTS  ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

t 

was  that  between  Pennsylvania  and  Connecti- 
cut over  the  Wyoming  Valley.  This  quarrel 
came  to  blows  and  bloodshed.  Connecticut 
claimed  the  Wyoming  Valley  by  right  of  her 
charter  and  many  of  her  people  had  settled 
there  before  the  Revolution.  Pennsylvania 
also  claimed  it  and  sent  troops  there  to  drive 

out  the  Connecticut  people.     After  much  strife 

i 
and  cruelty  it  was  decided  to  arbitrate.  Penn- 
sylvania won,  and  Connecticut  moved  farther 
westward  and  took  possession  of  a  slice  of 
northern  Ohio,  then  a  Territory,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  miles  long  and  the  width  of  the 
State  of  Connecticut.  This  was  called  the 
Western  Reserve. 

By  these  things  we  see  that  the  Government 
was  in  an  imbecile  condition ;  something  had 
to  be  done,  or  anarchy  would  prevail.  Wash- 
ington wrote  a  circular  letter  to  the  governors 
of  all  the  States,  urging  a  stronger  govern- 
ment than  the  one  existing.  The  people  saw 
that  there  must  be  radical  changes  in  the 
Government  ere  long,  but  what  shape  it 
would  take  no  one  knew.  Some  talked  of  a 
kingdom  with  the  second  son  of   George  the 


FRAMING   OF  THE   CONSTITUTION  35 

Third  as'  King.  This  was  freely  talked  of 
in  England,  but  found  no  footing  in  America. 
The  people  had  had  enough  of  George  the 
TMrd.  Washington  was  approached  on  the 
subject  of  becoming  King,  but  this  project 
gained  little  favor  with  the  people ;  and,  be 
sides,  Washington  positively  refused  to  consider 
the  matter.  Then  three  confederate  republic? 
were  talked  of :  one  comprising  New  Eng^ 
land ;  another,  the  Middle  States ;  and  a 
third,  the  Southern  States.  No  one  seemed 
to  surmise  that  the  boundless  West  was  des- 
tined to  become  part  of  our  public  domain. 

The  Annapolis  Convention 

While  the  country  was  in  this  restless  and 
unsettled  condition,  Virginia,  the  grand  Old 
Dominion,  came  to  the  rescue  and  called  a 
national  convention  to  meet  at  Annapolis, 
Maryland,  in  September,  1786.  Only  a  few 
States  responded  —  none  from  New  England, 
nor  from  the  extreme  South.  There  were 
only  twelve  delegates  present,  but  these  did 
something.  They  called  another  convention 
to   meet   at    Philadelphia   the   following    May. 


36       SIDE  LIGHTS  ON*  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

This  proposed  meeting  at  Philadelphia  was 
destined  to  be  the  far-famed  Constitutional 
Convention. 

Would  the  States  respond  to  the  call?  was 
the  question  of  the  hour.  The  people  gen- 
erally looked  to  Virginia  to  take  the  lead, 
nor  did  they  look  in  vain.  Virginia  was  con- 
sidered the  greatest  State  in  the  Union,  and 
she  had  called  the  convention  at  Annapolis. 
The  election  of  delegates  in  this  State  was 
directed  by  a  young  man,  James  Madison, 
and  he  made  a  happy  hit  at  the  outstart  by 
securing  the  selection  of  George  Washington. 
There  was  a  reverence  for  Washington  in 
every  State  that  was  little  short  of  idolatry, 
and  his  name  was  a  power  in  giving  the  con- 
vention tone  over  the  whole  country.  There 
were  but  two  men  in  America  whose  fame 
was  world-wide,  and  Washington  was  one  of 
them.  Virginia  next  chose  her  governor,  Ed- 
mond  Randolph;  but  she  did  nothing  better 
than  when  she  chose  Madison  himself  as  one 
of  the  delegates.  Patrick  Henry  would  have 
been  sent,  but  he  refused  to  go.  He  was 
opposed   to    holding   the    convention ;    so   also 


FRAMING  OF  THE   CONSTITUTION  37 

was  Richard  Henry  Lee,  who  had  moved  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  in  1776. 

New  Jersey  soon  followed  in  the  election 
of  delegates.  Pennsylvania  came  next,  and  so 
on  until  twelve  States  were  represented,  one 
alone  refusing.  That  one  was  Rhode  Island; 
but  Rhode  Island  might  have  been  brought 
into  line  had  not  her  greatest  citizen,  General 
Nathaniel  Greene,  recently  died  of  sunstroke. 
Congress,  then  sitting  in  New  York,  approved 
the  convention  after  seven  States  had  chosen 
delegates. 

The  Constitutional  Convention 

The  convention  met  in  Philadelphia  in  May, 
1787,  and  began  its  sittings  on  the  25th. 
There  were  fifty-five  delegates  in  all,  some  of 
whom  did  not  arrive  for  several  weeks  after 
the  sessions  began.  Ten  others  who  had  been 
elected  never  attended.1 

Very  briefly  let  us  notice  the  personnel  of 
this  convention.  Thomas  Jefferson,  then  min- 
ister to  France,  wrote  that  it  was  an  assembly 
of  demigods.     It  was,  indeed,  a  notable  gath- 

1  Elliot's  "  Debates,"  Vol.  I.  p.  63. 


38        SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

ering.  Most  of  the  members  had  filled  high 
positions  before,  and  many  filled  still  higher 
positions  afterward.  Seven  had  been  gov- 
ernors of  States,  and  twenty-eight,  members 
of  Congress.  Two  afterward  became  Presi- 
dents of  the  United  States,  one,  Vice-President, 
and  many  others,  cabinet  officers  and  ministers 
abroad.  Eight  had  signed  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  eleven  years  before,  and  a  few 
had  been  members  of  the  Stamp  Act  Con- 
gress of  1765. 

The  greatest  American  genius  of  that  day 
was  the  oldest  man  in  the  convention,  Ben- 
jamin Franklin,  aged  eighty -one.  Of  him  and 
of  George  Washington  nothing  need  be  said, 
as  every  schoolboy  knows  their  history.  There 
were  in  this  convention  Robert  Morris,  James 
Wilson,  John  Dickinson,  Elbridge  Gerry,  and 
Roger  Sherman  —  these  have  been  referred  to 
in  the  preceding  chapter.  There  was  Edmond 
Randolph,  the  popular  young  governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, who,  as  a  youth,  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
Revolution,  could  not  agree  with  his  Tory 
father,  ran  away  from  home,  joined  the  patriot 
army,  and  served  through  the  war.     He  after- 


FRAMING   OF  THE   CONSTITUTION  39 

ward  became  governor  of  his  State  and  member 
of  Washington's  cabinet.  We  also  find  Gouv- 
erneur  Morris,  the  author  of  our  decimal  system 
of  money ;  John  Rutledge,  the  brilliant  orator  of 
South  Carolina;  Rufus  King,  who  was  yet  to 
spend  many  years  in  the  forefront  of  political 
life;  and  Charles  C.  Pinckney,  afterward  a 
member  of  the  famous  mission  to  France,  and 
twice  candidate  of  his  party  for  the  presidency 
of  the  United  States. 

The  two  profoundest  statesmen  in  the  con- 
vention were  young  men,  Madison  and  Ham- 
ilton. To  Madison,  perhaps,  we  owe  more  for 
making  the  Constitution  what  it  is  than  to  any 
other  man.  Alexander  Hamilton,  afterward  a 
member  of  Washington's  cabinet,  and  the 
leader  of  his  party  as  long  as  he  lived,  was  a 
great  lawyer  and  the  greatest  financier  this 
country  has  yet  seen.  He  was  born  in  the 
West  Indies,  came  to  New  York  when  a  boy, 
5  left  college  to  join  the  army,  showed  military 
genius  of  a  high  order,  entered  public  life  at 
the  close  of  the  war,  and  fell  at  last  a  victim 
of  the  duelist's  bullet1  in  the  midst  of  his 
brilliant  career. 

1  See  Chapter  VII. 


40        SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

The  convention  chose  Washington  as  its 
president,  closed  its  doors,  and  began  its  sit- 
tings for  the  summer.  It  was  well  that  the 
sessions  were  kept  secret  from  the  public,  for 
had  the  newspapers  printed  the  wrangles  and 
disputes  that  took  place  in  that  convention, 
the  people  would  have  been  distracted.  There 
were  now  all  kinds  of  speculation  as  to  what 
the  convention  would  do.  It  had  been  elected 
for  the  purpose  of  amending  the  Articles  of 
Confederation,  but  there  was  a  general  belief 
that  it  would  go  beyond  its  instructions.  James 
Wilson  related  an  anecdote  of  the  poet  Pope. 
A  common  expression  of  the  poet,  who  was  a 
man  of  frail  body,  was  "  God  mend  me !  "  A 
boy  was  one  day  assisting  him  across  a  ravine 
when  the  poet  made  use  of  his  familiar  phrase. 
"Mend  you"  said  the  lad;  "it  would  be  easier 
to  make  half  a  dozen  new  ones."  So  it  would 
be  easier  to  make  half  a  dozen  new  constitu- 
tions than  to  mend  the  old  one.1 

The  United  States  Government  was  com- 
pared to  an  old  man  who  had  thirteen  sons. 
They   had    built   a   big    house    and    all    lived 

1  Bryce's  "American  Commonwealth,"  Vol.  I.  p.  310. 


FRAMING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  41 

together  for  several  years,  when  the  sons  grew 
weary  of  the  paternal  roof  and  each  went 
out  and  built  a  hut  for  himself.  Then  trouble 
began :  one  had  his  corn  stolen ;  another  lost 
his  sheep  by  wolves;  another,  his  crops  by 
flood,  and  so  forth.  At  length  twelve  of  them 
begged  their  father  to  take  them  back,  and  he 
gladly  did  so.  But  the  thirteenth  still  held 
aloof,  and  at  last  went  and  hanged  himself. 
That  thirteenth  was  Rhode  Island.  Hard 
things  were  now  said  about  Rhode  Island. 
The  five  per  cent  impost  had  been  defeated 
by  Rhode  Island,  and  as  the  little  State  now 
refused  to  take  part  in  the  convention,  every- 
thing bad  was  blamed  on  it  —  the  bankrupt 
treasury,  the  suffering  of  the  soldiers,  the 
poverty  of  the  whole  nation.1  "  Drop  the 
State  out  of  the  Union,"  it  was  said;  "force 
it  to  pay  its  share  of  the  Revolutionary  debt, 
then  drop  it  from  the  roll  of  States ;  or,  better 
still,  divide  it  between  _  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut." 

1  MacMaster,  Vol.  I.  p.  393. 


42        SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

The  Three  Great  Compromises 

The  Constitutional  Convention  sat  with  closed 
doors  for  four  months.  The  work  it  produced 
was  a  great  work:  it  brought  order  out  of 
chaos ;  it  converted  a  Confederation  of  States 
into  a  Federal  Government.  Mr.  Gladstone 
has  said  that  "The  American  Constitution  is 
the  greatest  work  ever  struck  off  at  any  one 
time  by  the  mind  and  purpose  of  man." 
From  another  great  Englishman  we  quote : 
"The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  of 
America  is  much  the  most  important  political 
instrument  of  modern  times." 

It  is  needless  to  give  here  a  full  account 
of  the  working  of  this  convention.  The  great 
document  which  it  produced  is  based  on  three 
compromises,  and  to  these  we  give  brief 
notice. 

First  Compromise.  —  Between  the  large  and 
small  States.  When  the  convention  had  de- 
cided that  the  new  Government  should  consist 
of  three  coordinate  branches,  an  Executive, 
a  Judicial,  and  a  Legislative,  and  that  the 
national     legislature     should     consist     of     two 


FRAMING  OF  THE   CONSTITUTION  43 

houses,  a  dispute  arose  between  the  large 
and  small  States.  The  large  States  claimed 
that  each  State  should  be  represented  in  Con- 
gress according  to  population;  while  the  small 
States  demanded  that  all  be  equally  repre- 
sented, regardless  of  size  and  importance,  as 
under  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  Long 
and  fierce  were  the  debates  on  this  subject, 
each  side  avowing  that  it  would  not  yield. 
Two  or  three  times  the  convention  was  on 
the  verge  of  breaking  up,  when  at  length  they 
struck  a  compromise,  called  the  Connecticut 
Compromise  because  introduced  by  the  dele- 
gates from  that  State.1  By  this  agreement 
it  was  decided  that  in  the  Lower  House  of 
Congress  the  representation  should  be  accord- 
ing to  population,  while  in  the  Upper  House, 
or  Senate,  the  States  should  be  equally  repre- 
sented. This  is  the  most  permanent  clause  in 
the  Constitution,  for  it  provides  that  no  State 
shall  be  deprived  of  its  equal  representation 
in  the  Senate  without  its  own  consent.  Thus 
Delaware  has  the  same  voice  in  the  Senate 
as  New  York,  while  in  the  House  of  Repre- 

1  Geo-^e  Bancroft's  "  History  of  the  U.  S.,"  Vol.  VI.  p.  239. 


44        SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

sentatives  the  vote  of  New  York  is  at  the 
present  time  (1899)  thirty-four  times  as  great 
as  that  of  Delaware. 

Second  Compromise.  —  Between  the  free  and 
slave  States.  .  Before  it  was  fully  decided 
whether  to  base  the  House  of  Representatives 
on  population  or  wealth,  another  question 
arose :  Are  slaves  population  or  wealth  ?  The 
South  claimed  that  the  slaves  were  a  part  of 
the  population,  and  should  all  be  counted  in 
the  census  that  makes  up  the  representation 
in  Congress.  The  North  contended  that  as 
slaves  were  bought  and  sold,  they  were  merely 
property ;  and  since  they  had  no  vote,  they 
should  not  be  counted  in  making  up  the 
census.  Besides,  it  would  give  too  much 
power  to  the  men  who  owned  large  numbers 
of  slaves. 

Again  there  was  fierce  contention  in  the 
convention.  Neither  side  would  yield.  Another 
compromise  was  the  result  —  three-fifths  of  the 
slaves  were  to  be  counted  in  the  census ;  so 
it  was  decided,  and  so  it  continued  to  the  time 
of  the  Civil  War. 

Third    Compromise.  —  Between     agricultural 


FRAMING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  45 

and  commercial  States.  When  the  census  ques- 
tion was  settled,  the  subject  of  further  impor- 
tation of  negroes  from  Africa  engaged  the 
attention.  A  large  majority  in  the  convention 
opposed  the  foreign  slave-trade.  "The  traffic 
must  be  stopped,"  said  they;  "it  is  an  inhuman 
business,  this  seizure  of  human  beings  and 
condemning  them  to  lifelong  bondage  because 
they  are  black;  it  is  contrary  to  morality,  re- 
ligion, and  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
the  very  principles  on  which  the  Revolution 
was  fought."  Then  two  States  protested  in 
thunder-tones  —  South  Carolina  and  Georgia. 
The  African  slave-trade  was  necessary  to 
their  prosperity,  they  said.  They  raised  rice 
and  indigo  in  their  boundless  swamps  where 
no  white  man  could  work,  and  even  the  black 
man  could  stand  it  but  a  few  years,  and  the 
ranks  had  to  be  constantly  refilled  from  Africa. 
They  would  not  join  the  Union  if  the  African 
slave-trade  was  prohibited.  They  contended 
that  it  was  not  a  matter  of  morality  nor  of 
religion ;  it  was  a  matter  of  business ;  it  was 
whether  or  not  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 
were  wanted  in  the  Union. 


46        SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

This  was  now  very  serious.  The  delegates 
from  the  other  States  felt  morally  bound  to  stop 
this  traffic  in  human  flesh  and  blood,  but  the 
attitude  of  these  two  States  put  a  chill  on  their 
ardor.  The  outlook  was  grave :  Rhode  Island 
was  not  represented ;  the  New  York  delegates 
had  gone  home  in  anger  because  they  couldn't 
have  their  own  way ;  Massachusetts  was  by 
no  means  certain.  If  now  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia  refused  to  take  further  part,  it  was 
plain  that  no  Union  could  be  formed. 

Before  this  question  was  settled  another  arose, 
namely,  shall  Congress  or  the  States  severally 
have  control  over  commerce  ?  The  South  said, 
that  by  all  means  the  States  should  manage 
their  own  commerce.  It  was  an  agricultural 
region ;  it  desired  a  low  tariff,  or  none  at  all, 
so  as  to  buy  goods  cheaply  from  abroad.  New 
England  now  protested.  Its  wealth  was  in 
shipping.  The  tariff  should  be  the  same  in 
all  the  States.  Congress  should  control  it. 
Again  there  was  a  deadlock.  Two  great  ques- 
tions now  lay  before  the  convention :  the  con- 
trol of  commerce  and  the  foreign  slave-trade. 
Again   a   compromise   was    reached.       It   was 


FRAMING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  47 

decided  that  Congress  should  control  com- 
merce, and  that  the  African  slave-trade  be 
left  open  —  not  forever,  but  for  twenty-one 
years — until  the  year  1808.  This  was  the 
third  compromise  of  the  Constitution. 

The  most  important  work  of  making  the 
Constitution  was  now  completed,  and  the  sum- 
mer was  well-nigh  spent.  But  there  was  much 
yet  to  do  of  minor  importance ;  as,  how  to 
elect  the  President,  for  how  long  a  term,  and 
what  powers  should  be  given  him  ?  Many 
wanted  the  President  elected  by  Congress, 
and  seven  years  was  the  favorite  length  of 
term ;  but  a  term  of  four  years  was  agreed 
upon  and  the  election  by  an  electoral  college. 
Then  the  Supreme  Court  —  how  should  the 
judges  be  appointed  ?  what  should  be  their 
powers  ?  what  powers  should  Congress  have  ? 
and  the  like.  All  these  things  and  many 
others  were  ably  discussed,  and  finally  decided 
as  we  have  them  now  in  our  Constitution. 

This  great  document  being  finished,  the  con- 
vention ended  its  sittings  on  the  17th  of  Sep- 
tember. Few  of  the  members  were  satisfied 
with    it;     each    one    thought    it    would    have 


48        SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

been  a  little  better  had  he  written  it  himself. 
Franklin  advised  that  all  the  members  sign 
it,  that  each  one  yield  his  own  judgment 
to  that  of  the  majority.  "Too  many,"  he 
said,  "are  like  the  French  lady,  who,  in  an 
argument  with  her  sister,  exclaimed,  'I  do  not 
know  why  it  is,  sister,  but  I  find  nobody  that 
is  always  in  the  right,  except  myself,' "  or,  we 
may  add,  like  the  old  Quaker  who  said  to 
his  wife,  "  Rebecca,  all  the  world  is  queer  but 
thee  and  me,  and  sometimes  I  think  thee  is 
a  little*"  queer." 

As  the  members  were  signing,  Franklin, 
pointing  to  a  picture  on  the  back  of  the  chair 
in  which  Washington  sat,  remarked,  "In  look- 
ing at  that  picture,  I  have  often  wondered, 
during  the  summer,  whether  it  was  a  rising 
or  a  setting  sun,  now  I  know  it  is  a  rising 
sun." 

The  Constitution  before  the  People 

•The  ship  Constitution  had  had  a  rough 
voyage  thus  far,  but  the  storms  were  by  no 
means  over.  It  was  decided  that  if  nine 
States  adopted  it,  the  new  Constitution  would 


FRAMING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  49 

take  effect  and  become  the  supreme  law  of 
the  land;  but  here  it  was  destined  to  encoun- 
ter serious  and  almost  fatal  opposition.  It 
was  sent  to  Congress,  still  sitting  in  New 
York,  but  there  was  much  opposition  to  it 
in  that  body,  led  by  Richard  Henry  Lee. 
After  debating  the  subject  for  eight  days,  how- 
ever, Congress  sent  it  to  the  States  without 
recommendation  for  or  against  it. 

Now  for  the  first  time  the  people  arrayed 
themselves  into  two  great  political  parties. 
Those  desiring  a  strong  government  and 'favor- 
ing the  Constitution,  became  known  as  the 
Federalists;  those  opposing  it  were  called 
Anti-Federalists.  The  people  were  nearly 
equally  divided,  and  the  strife  extended  over 
nearly  a  year,  and  was  very  bitter. 

Delaware  won  the  honor  of  being  the  first 
State  to  adopt  the  new  Constitution.  This 
was  in  December.  Pennsylvania  followed  in 
the  same  month,  led  by  James  Wilson.  In 
that  State  almost  half  the  people  opposed 
the  Constitution,  and  it  was  adopted  only 
after  a  most  severe  struggle.  New  Jersey 
came  next  and  Georgia  fourth.     Georgia  was 


5<D        SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

bounded  on  the  west  by  hostile  Indians  and 
on  the  south  by  troublesome  Spaniards.  A 
better  government  was  therefore  quite  welcome 
to  the  people,  who  felt  the  need  of  a  stronger 
defence. 

The  two  greatest  States,  Virginia  and  Massa- 
chusetts, still  held  aloof.  There  was  power- 
ful opposition  in  both.  The  convention  was 
in  session  in  Massachusetts  and  the  feeling 
was  that  it  would  decide  the  fate  of  New 
England  and  perhaps  of  the  Union.  The 
eyes  of  all  now  turned  toward  Massachusetts. 
In  addition  to  Elbridge  Gerry,  who  had  helped 
frame  the  Constitution  and  then  refused  to 
sign  it,  two  of  the  foremost  men  in  the  State 
opposed  it  —  Samuel  Adams  and  John  Han- 
cock. But  Adams  was  converted  in  a  novel 
way.  During  the  convention  a  mass-meeting 
of  laboring  men,  who  favored  the  new  Consti- 
tution, met  at  the  Green  Dragon  hotel,  in 
Boston.  They  were  great  admirers  of  Samuel 
Adams-  and  sent  one  of  their  number,  Paul 
Revere,  famous  for  his  midnight  ride  of  years 
before,  to  inform  Mr.  Adams  that  they  de- 
sired  him   to  favor   the  Constitution.      "  How 


FRAMING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  51 

many  of  you  are  there  ? "  asked  Adams 
Revere,  pointing  upward,  answered,  "  More 
than  the  stars  in  the  sky."  Mr.  Adams  was 
much  moved ;  he  was  converted,  and  Massa- 
chusetts soon  afterward  ratified  the  Constitu- 
tion. This  was  the  sixth  State.  Connecticut 
had  been  the  fifth.  Maryland  and  South  Caro- 
lina soon  raised  the  number  to  eight,  and  but 
one  more  was  now  needed  to  put  the  new 
Government  into  operation. 

It  was  now  June,  1788.  The  Virginian  con- 
vention was  in  session.  The  State  had  waited 
nearly  a  year,  and  eight  of  her  sisters  had  rati- 
fied. There  was  a  great  opposition  in  Virginia, 
led  by  Richard  Henry  Lee  and  Patrick  Henry. 
But  in  spite  of  Henry's  eloquence  the  State 
ratified  on  the  25th  of  June.  The  shout  of 
triumph  was  thrilling,  and  it  spread  over  the 
whole  country. 

"The  ninth  State,  the  ninth  State,"  cried 
the  people ;  "  Virginia  has  ratified,  there  are 
now  nine  States,  and  the  Government  is 
secure.  Hurrah  for  the  United  States  of 
America ! "  But  Virginia  was  not  the  ninth 
State.     New  Hampshire  had  ratified  four  days 


52        SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

before,  though  the  news  had  not  yet  reached 
Virginia.  New  York  joined  the  ranks  in  July. 
This  made  eleven.  The  other  two  States,  North 
Carolina  and  Rhode  Island,  remained  out  of  the 
Union  until  some  time  after  the  first  President 
had  been  inaugurated. 

Nearly  all  the  States,  on  adopting  the  Con- 
stitution, proposed  amendments  aggregating 
more  than  a  hundred.  These  were  considered 
by  Congress.  The  House  boiled  them  down  to 
seventeen,  and  the  Senate  reduced  this  num- 
ber to  twelve,  when  they  were  sent  to  the 
State  legislatures,  as  the  Constitution  pro- 
vides. The  States  ratified  ten  of  them.  The 
first  ten  amendments  to  our  Constitution  were 
therefore  adopted  before  the  close  of  the  year 
1 79 1.  The  eleventh  followed  some  years  later, 
while  John  Adams  was  President,  and  the 
twelfth  in  1804.  This  was  the  last  amend- 
ment for  sixty-one  years,  the  next  being  that 
abolishing  slavery  at  the  close  of  the  Civil 
War. 

The  adoption  of  our  Constitution  marks  a 
great  era  in  human  history  —  it  marks  the 
birth  of  a  Nation  destined  to  be  the  greatest 


FRAMING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  53 

of  the  earth.  It  created  a  Federal  Government, 
a  wonderful  combination  between  the  States 
and  the  Nation  —  each  supreme  within  its  own 
sphere,  neither  encroaching  upon  the  domain  of 
the  other.  This  marvellous  machinery  was  set 
in  motion  by  the  adoption  of  our  Federal 
Constitution. 


CHAPTER   III 
The  Inauguration  of  Washington 

The  Unanimous  Election 

In  our  own  times  it  is  not  possible  to  foretell 
who  will  be  the  next  President  of  the  United 
States  until  the  people  have  made  their  choice 
by  the  ballot.  But  in  1788,  when  the  Constitu- 
tion had  been  adopted  by  the  requisite  number 
of  States  and  was  soon  to  go  into  operation, 
there  was  no  speculation  as  to  who  would  be 
the  first  President.  Every  one  knew  that  the 
great  chieftain  who  had  led  the  Revolutionary 
armies  to  victory  was  the  choice  of  the  Nation. 

General  Washington,  having  passed  the  me- 
ridian of  life,  had  retired  after  the  war  to  his 
home  at  Mount  Vernon,  hoping  to  spend  the 
evening  of  his  days  undisturbed  on  his  farm. 
Most  men  in  public  life  are  ambitious  to  rise 
higher  and  higher;  but  it  was  not  so  with 
Washington.  His  great  desire  was  to  spend 
54 


THE  INAUGURATION  OF  WASHINGTON        55 

the  rest  of  his  life  amid  the  rural  attractions 
of  his  home  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac. 
No  one  can  doubt  this  who  reads  his  diary 
and  his  private  correspondence.  But  when 
the  great  man  heard  the  call,'  not  only  of  his 
personal  and  political  friends,  but  of  the  whole 
people  as  with  one  voice,  to  become  the  Chief 
Magistrate,  he  felt  it  his  solemn  duty  to  heed 
and  obey  the  call. 

Congress  had  decided  that  the  electors  be 
chosen  in  each  State  on  the  first  Wednesday 
in  January,  1789;  that  they  meet  and  choose 
a  President  and  Vice-President  on  the  first 
Wednesday  in  February,  and  that  the  new 
Government  go  into  effect  on  the  first  Wednes- 
day in  March.  This  day  happened  that 
year  to  be  the  4th.  A  few  years  later  the 
Fourth  of  March  was  made  the  legal  inaugu- 
ration day  by  act  of  Congress,  and  it  has  so 
continued  ever  since.  New  York  City  had 
been  chosen  as  the  temporary  capital  of  the 
new  Government. 

The  4th  of  March  came,  but  the  new  Con- 
gress did  not  meet  on  that  day;  there  was 
no   quorum   present.      The   President  was  not 


56       SIDE  LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

inaugurated ;  he  had  not  yet  arrived.  In 
fact  it  was  only  by  Congress  that  he  could 
be  officially  informed  of  his  election.  The 
new  Government  had  been  ushered  in  on  the 
4th  of  March  *  by  the  booming  of  cannon 
and  the  ringing  of  bells ;  but,  owing  to  the 
bad  roads,  long  distances,  and  the  slow  meth- 
ods of  travel,  Congress  had  not  a  quorum 
until  the  first  of  April,  when  the  Lower  House 
began  its  first  session,  the  Senate  not  meet- 
ing till  the  sixth. 

One  of  the  first  things  Congress  did  was 
to  count  the  electoral  votes,  when  it  was  found 
that  George  Washington  had  received  sixty- 
nine,  the  entire  number,  and  John  Adams 
thirty-four,  each  elector  having  voted  for  two 
men.  The  votes  not  cast  for  Adams  were 
scattered  among  ten  other  men,  John  Jay 
standing  next  to  him  with  nine  votes.  But 
ten  States  voted  in  this  election.  North  Caro- 
lina and  Rhode  Island  were  not  yet  members 
of  the  Union,  and  New  York  had  not  voted, 
owing  to  a  quarrel  between  the  two  houses 
of  the  legislature. 

A  messenger,  Charles   Thompson,  long   the 


THE   INAUGURATION  OF  WASHINGTON        57 

secretary  of  the  old  Congress,  was  immedi- 
ately despatched  with  the  news  of  the  elec- 
tion to  Mount  Vernon.  He  arrived  there 
about  the  middle  of  April,  and  Washington 
immediately  set  out  on  his  journey  to  New 
York.  On  the  16th  he  wrote  in  his  diary: 
"About  ten  o'clock  I  bade  adieu  to  Mount 
Vernon,  to  private  life,  and  to  domestic  felic- 
ity ;  and,  with  a  mind  oppressed  with  more 
anxious  and  painful  sensations  than  I  have 
words  to  express,  set  out  for  New  York  with 
the  best  disposition  to  render  service  to  my 
country  in  obedience  to  its  call,  but  with  less 
hope  of  answering  its  expectations." 

The  Triumphal  March 

Washington's  journey  to  New  York  was 
one  continuous  ovation.  It  was  like  the  tri- 
umphal march  of  a  Roman  conqueror.  Men, 
women,  and  children  of  all  ages  thronged  the 
highways  to  shout  their  glad  welcomes,  and 
show  their  love  to  this  first  citizen  of  the  land. 
He  preferred  a  quiet,  unostentatious  journey, 
but  public  feeling  was  too  strong  to  be  sup- 
pressed.      In    every    city    through    which    he 


58        SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

passed  there  was  great  preparation  for  his 
reception,  and  large  numbers  of  citizens  and 
soldiers  escorted  him  through  their  respective 
States.  At  Alexandria  he  was  given  a  pub- 
lic dinner  presided  over  by  the  mayor,  whose 
happy  address  was  answered  by  Washing- 
ton in  a  few  choice  words  showing  the  deep- 
est emotion.  He  was  received  with  high 
honors  at  Baltimore  and  Chester ;  but  it  was 
left  for  Philadelphia  and  Trenton  to  make 
the  greatest  display  in  doing  homage  to  this 
civilian  hero. 

The  people  of  Philadelphia  had  erected  a 
triumphal  arch  at  Grey's  Ferry  on  the  Schuyl- 
kill, near  the  entrance  of  the  city.  At  Ches- 
ter, fourteen  miles  below,  Washington  had 
been  placed  on  a  superb  white  horse.  The 
procession  started  for  the  city  and  was  aug- 
mented along  the  way  until  it  became  a  mul- 
titude. He  entered  the  city  amid  the  shouts 
of  the  gathered  thousands  and  the  roaring 
of  artillery.  As  he  passed  under  the  arch, 
a  crown  of  laurel  was  let  down  upon  his  head 
by  a  boy  who  had  been  concealed  for  the 
purpose  amid  the  laurel   branches.      The  day 


THE  INAUGURATION  OF  WASHINGTON        59 

was  given  to  festivities,  and  at  night  there 
was  a  grand  display  of  fireworks. 

On  the  next  day,  April  the  21st,  a  beau- 
tiful sunny  day,  Washington  reached  Trenton, 
and  his  reception  here  was  the  most  touch- 
ing of  them  all.  What  memories  must  have 
rushed  to  his  mind  when  he  reached  the  banks 
of  the  Delaware,  where,  twelve  years  before, 
he  had  crossed  on  that  dark  winter  night 
amid  ice  and  snow  to  strike  a  telling  blow  at 
the  enemy.  The  change  since  then  had  been 
marvellous.  Then  the  darkness  of  the  winter 
night  only  typified  the  darkness  that  seemed 
to  be  settling  like  a  pall  over  the  patriot 
cause ;  now  the  brightness  of  the  day  was 
typical  of  the  exultant  gladness  of  a  free  and 
united  people. 

The  people  of  Trenton  were  prepared  to  re- 
ceive the  approaching  chieftain.  At  the  bridge 
across  the  little  river  that  flows  through  the 
city  was  erected  a  triumphal  arch,  tastefully 
decorated  with  evergreen  and  flowers.  In 
front  of  the  arch  in  large  gilt  letters  were 
the  words :  "  The  defender  of  the  mothers 
will  be  the  protector  of   the   daughters."     At 


60        SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

this  point  a  large  number  of  women  met 
Washington  and  his  escort,  and  as  he  passed 
under  the  arch  a  number  of  schoolgirls, 
dressed  in  white  and  crowned  with  garlands, 
came  forward  singing  an  ode 1  and  strewing 
his  path  with  flowers.  Washington  was  more 
deeply  affected  by  this  than  at  any  other  time 
during  his  journey.  He  said  that  the  impres- 
sion it  made  upon  his  heart  could  never  be 
effaced.2 

The  procession  was  two  days  crossing  New 
Jersey  to  Elizabethtown  Point,  where  they  were 
met  by  a  reception  committee  from  both  houses 
of  Congress.  Here  a  fine  barge,  built  for  the 
occasion,  was  waiting  to  take  the  President- 
elect to  the  New  York  harbor.  It  was  manned 
by  thirteen  pilots  in  white  uniform,  and  was  ac- 

1  The  ode  was  composed  for  the  occasion  and  is  as  follows :  — 

"  Welcome,  mighty  Chief,  once  more, 
Welcome  to  this  grateful  shore; 
Now  no  mercenary  foe 
Aims  again  the  fatal  blow. 

"  Virgins  fair  and  matrons  grave, 
Those  thy  conquering  arm  did  save, 
Build  for  thee  triumphal  bowers ; 
Strew  the  hero's  way  with  flowers." 

a  Marshall's  "  Life  of  Washington,"  Vol.  V.  p.  159. 


THE   INAUGURATION   OF   WASHINGTON        6\ 

companied  by  many  other  vessels  highly  deco- 
rated and  bearing  many  distinguished  citizens. 
These  formed  a  nautical  procession  and  swept 
up  the  beautiful  bay,  cheered  on  by  instru- 
mental music  and  by  the  firing  of  salutes  from 
the  ships  lying  at  anchor  along  the  harbor.1 

New  York's  Welcome 

It  was  Thursday,  April  the  23d,  1789. 
New  York  City  had  donned  its  holiday  dress. 
Flags  were  floating  over  the  principal  build- 
ings, bells  were  ringing,  and  the  people  were 
in  a  flutter  of  excitement.  Soldiers  in  bright 
uniform  stood  along  the  side  walks,  mounted 
aids  galloped  to  and  fro  amid  the  surging 
crowd,  while  bands  of  music  enlivened  the 
scene.  The  bay  was  full  of  vessels  with  flaunt- 
ing flags  and  streaming  pennants.  The  crowd 
along  the  Battery  was  dense,  and,  as  the 
people  stood  gazing  down  the  bay,  the  barge 
in  which  Washington  had  embarked  hove  in 
sight,  when  the  boom  of  cannon  from  the  an- 
chored vessels  announced  the  fact,  and  was 
answered  by  thirteen  guns  from  the  city.     The 

1  Irving's  "  Life  of  Washington,"  Vol.  IV.  p.  565. 


62        SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

barge  approached  and  from  it  stepped  Wash- 
ington,—  tall  and  stalwart,  with  a  proud,  sol- 
dier-like step,  but  with  a  serious,  thoughtful 
countenance.  Here  he  was  met  by  Governor 
George  Clinton,  and  escorted  through  •  the 
streets   amid  prolonged  cheering  on  all  sides.1 

The  inauguration  was  to  take  place  at  Fed- 
eral Hall  (now  the  New  York  custom-house) 
corner  Broad  and  Wall  streets.  Vice-President 
Adams  had  been  sworn  into  office  before  Wash- 
ington reached  the  city ;  but  a  week  was  yet  to 
elapse  before  the  latter  was  to  be  inducted  into 
his  position,  owing  to  the  repairing  of  the  build- 
ing still  in  progress. 

At  length  the  day  came  —  April  30,  1789. 
At  nine  o'clock  religious  services  were  held  in 
all  the  churches  in  the  city.  Before  noon  the 
streets  about  Federal  Hall  were  packed  with  a 
solid  mass  of  people,  the  windows  of  the  sur- 
rounding buildings  were  filled  with  eager  faces, 
and  the  roofs  were  covered  with  anxious  sight- 
seers. 

A  few  minutes  after  twelve  o'clock,  Wash- 

1  A  good  brief  account  of  Washington's  reception  in  New 
York  is  given  by  Schouler'(Vol  I.  p.  150). 


THE   INAUGURATION   OF  WASHINGTON        63 

ington,  accompanied  by  John  Adams  and  Chan- 
cellor Livingston,  and  followed  by  both  Houses 
of  Congress,  stepped  forth  on  the  balcony  in 
the  presence  of  the  vast  assemblage  of  people. 
The  shout  of  welcome  that  rose  seemed  to  pour 
forth  the  whole  heart  of  the  Nation.  Washing- 
ton placed  his  hand  upon  his  heart  and  bowed 
again  and  again  to  the  cheering  multitude. 
He  then  sank  back  into  an  arm-chair,  and  the 
crowd,  seeming  to  understand  that  he  was  over- 
come with  emotion,  was  instantly  hushed  into 
silence.  He  soon  rose  again  and  stepped  for- 
ward between  Adams  and  Livingston,  while 
in  the  rear  stood  Alexander  Hamilton,  Roger 
Sherman,  Baron  Steuben,  and  two  Revolution- 
ary generals,  Knox  and  St.  Clair. 

The  secretary  of  the  Senate  stood  by  with 
an  open  Bible,  on  which  Washington  laid  his 
hand  while  Chancellor  Livingston  pronounced 
the  oath  of  office.  At  its  conclusion  Washing- 
ton replied  in  solemn,  stifled  words :  "  I  swear 
—  so  help  me  God."  He  then  reverently 
bowed,  and  kissed  the  Bible. 

Livingston  now  stepped  forward,  waved  his 
hand  to  the  people,  and  shouted:  — 


64       SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

"  Long  live  George  Washington,  President 
of  the  United  States." 

The  next  moment  a  flag  was  displayed  on 
the  cupola  of  the  hall,  and  this  was  the  signal 
for  the  discharge  of  artillery  on  the  Battery. 
Bells  were  rung  all  over  the  city,  and  the  shout 
that  rose  from  the  assembled  crowd  spread 
from  street  to  street  until  the  whole  city  was 
a  roaring,  seething  mass  of  humanity. 

Soon  afterward,  the  newly  installed  Presi- 
dent retired  within  the  hall  and  read  his 
inaugural  address.  His  voice  was  low  and 
tremulous,  as  one  of  his  hearers  wrote,  and 
his  countenance  grave  almost  to  sadness, 
showing  his  deep  sense  of  responsibility. 

Thus  was  ushered  into  office  the  first  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  amid  the  heartiest 
welcome  that  a  grateful  people  could  bestow. 
More  than  a  century  has  passed  since  then, 
and  the  great  Washington  is  still  the  American 
idol.  No  other  President,  no  other  statesman, 
has  won  the  universal  homage  of  the  people 
as  he  did.  Washington  has  no  rival  —  he  can 
have  no  rival  —  in  holding  the  first  place  in  the 
great  American  heart. 


CHAPTER   IV 

The  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws 

The  most  famous  legislation  in  our  history 
after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  and  be- 
fore  the  Missouri  Compromise  was,  perhaps, 
the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws.  The  effect  of 
these  laws,  though  in  force  but  a  short  time, 
was  far-reaching  and  important,  as  they  had 
much  to  do  in  the  overthrow  of  the  political 
party  that  brought  them  into  existence,  and 
in  establishing  in  power  a  party  of  opposite 
tendencies. 

Political  Parties   One   Hundred  Years  Ago 

Party  lines  in  1798  were  more  tensely  drawn 
than  they  now  are.  Far  less  do  our  great  po- 
litical parties  of  to-day  differ  from  each  other 
than  did  the  Federal  and  Republican  parties  of 
one  hundred  years  ago.  The  Federal  party, 
led  by  Alexander  Hamilton,  stood  for  a  strong, 
f  65 


66        SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

centralized  government.  The  Republican  party, 
afterward  called  the  Democratic  party,  founded 
and  led  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  stood  for  States' 
Rights  and  local  self-government. 

These  two  party  leaders,  Jefferson  and  Ham- 
ilton, were,  beyond  a  doubt,  the  greatest  Ameri- 
can statesmen  of  this  period.  Both  were  as 
patriotic  as  it  is  possible  to  be,  but  they  differed 
widely  in  their  ideas  of  what  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  should  be.  They  opposed 
each  other  at  every  point,  and  became  personal 
enemies.  Be  it  remembered  that  at  this  time 
the  general  policy  of  the  Government  had  not 
been  fully  settled.  Hamilton  favored  construing 
the  Constitution  so  as  to  make  the  Government 
very  strong,  and  modelled  after  the  English 
monarchy.  He  never  fully  trusted  the  people 
nor  believed  them  capable  of  self-government. 
Jefferson  was  an  extreme  republican  or  demo- 
crat. He  trusted  the  people  implicitly,  and  used 
all  his  powers  in  furthering  the  one  thing  near- 
est his  heart  —  local  self-government.  Both 
men  were  extremists,  almost  radicals.  Hamil- 
ton lived  to  see  the  people  rise  and  overthrow 
his  party  forever.     Jefferson  lived  to  see  that  a 


THE  ALIEN  AND   SEDITION   LAWS  6j 

government  carrying  out  his  ideals  was  an  im« 
possibility ;  and  after  he  became  President  he 
was  forced  to  abandon,  one  by  one,  some  of  the 
very  ideals  on  which  his  party  had  been  founded. 

But  Hamilton  and  Jefferson  each  committed 
the  serious  mistake  of  misunderstanding  the 
other.  Hamilton  believed  that  Jefferson  was  at 
the  head  of  a  party  of  fanatics,  who  might  rise 
at  any  time  and  take  forcible  possession  of  the 
Government,  as  the  people  of  France  had  done 
in  that  country,  and  spread  anarchy  on  all 
sides.  Jefferson  believed  that  Hamilton  was  at 
the  head  of  a  great  conspiracy,  the  object  of 
which  was  to  merge  the  Republic  into  a  mon- 
archy. Both  were  in  error.  The  Federal  party 
did  not  aim  nor  wish  to  overthrow  the  Repub- 
lic and  substitute  a  monarchy ;  nor  was  there 
any  danger  of  Jefferson's  party  effecting  a  revo- 
lution similar  to  the  French  Revolution. 

When  we  bear  in  mind  this  misunderstanding 
between  these  two  National  parties,  we  can  see 
more  clearly  why  partisan  hatred  became  so 
intense. 

The  Federal  party  did  great  service  to  the 
country  during  its  twelve  years'  supremacy,  but 


68       SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

it  was  never  a  popular  party.  On  the  retire- 
ment  of  Washington,  John  Adams  became 
President  only  after  a  most  vigorous  contest, 
and  even  then  he  had  a  majority  of  but  three 
over  Jefferson.  Had  the  Federal  party  been 
wise,  it  would  now  have  seen  the  necessity  of 
doing  something  to  win  the  popular  heart ;  but 
the  party  seemed  bent  on  its  own  destruction. 
It  proceeded  to  enact  laws  that  were  sure  to 
drive  away  the  very  support  that  was  necessary 
to  its  further  lease  of  power.  The  most  promi- 
nent of  these  were  the  far-famed  Alien  and 
Sedition  Laws. 

Folly  of  the  Federal  Party 

There  was  a  moment  in  1798  when  the  Fed- 
eral party  seemed  to  be  really  popular.  It  was 
at  the  time  of  the  X.  Y.  Z.  explosion,  as  it  was 
called.  There  was  serious  trouble  between  this 
country  and  France.  President  Adams  had 
sent  three  men,  Gerry,  Marshall,  and  Pinckney, 
to  treat  with  the  French  Government.  These 
had  a  diplomatic  correspondence  with  three 
Frenchmen  representing  their  government  in  a 
semi-official    way.      These    Frenchmen     made 


THE  ALIEN  AND   SEDITION   LAWS  69 

demands  upon  the  United  States  that  could  not 
be  acceded  to  with  honor,  signing  themselves 
X.  Y.  and  Z.1  It  was  at  this  time  that  Pinckney 
is  said  to  have  used  the  expression,  "  Millions 
for  defence,  but  not  one  cent  for  tribute." 
This  correspondence  was  called  for  by  Con- 
gress. The  President  sent  it  in  April,  1798, 
and  the  newspapers  soon  published  it  broad- 
cast.    This  was  the  explosion. 

The  outburst  of  patriotism  over  the  whole 
country  was  very  enthusiastic.  Party  differ- 
ences were  lost  sight  of  for  the  time,  and  the 
whole  people  seemed  to  join  the  universal 
shout.  Patriotic  songs  were  written,  one  of 
which,  "Hail  Columbia,"  written  by  Joseph 
Hopkinson  for  a  Philadelphia  theatre,  still  sur- 
vives. Now  this  outburst  of  popular  enthusi- 
asm was  purely  non-partisan,  yet  the  party  in 
power,  the  party  that  had  brought  about  the 
conditions  that  produced  the  excitement,  might 
have  reaped  from  it  a  rich  harvest,  had  the  nec- 
essary tact  been  used.  But  the  Federal  party 
was  not  tactful ;  it  did  not  build  for  the  future. 

When  the  party  found  itself   on  the  upper 

1  More  accurately,  these  letters  were  used  by  the  American 
commissioners  to  conceal  the  names  of  the  Frenchmen. 


20        SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

wave  of  public  approbation,  instead  of  strength- 
ening  itself  for  the  future,  it  stooped  to  humble 
a  few  of  its  old  enemies.  It  passed  several 
obnoxious  laws  that  tended  to  weaken  it 
greatly.  Not  enough  to  estrange  many  owners 
of  houses  and  of  slaves  by  passing  the  House 
and  Slave  Tax  Laws ;  not  enough  to  offend  a 
large  portion  of  the  foreign-born  population  by 
raising  the  Naturalization  Law  to  fourteen 
years,  —  it  went  farther  and  enacted  the  famous, 
or  rather  infamous,  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws. 
The  Alien  Law,  enacted  early  in  the  summer 
of  1798,  was  twofold.  The.  first  enabled  the 
President  to  apprehend  and  send  out '  of  the 
country  any  alien  whom  he  might  consider 
dangerous  or  disturbing  to  society.  By  the 
second  he  was  given  power  to  apprehend  any 
alien  of  any  country,  which  was  at  war  with 
any  other  country.  It  was  the  former  of  these 
that  caused  a  storm  of  protest.  It  had  been 
aimed  at  Frenchmen  in  the  country,  and  all 
French  sympathizers  denounced  the  law  in 
unmeasured  terms.  It  was  opposed  on  the 
ground  that  it  violated  the  Constitution  in 
usurping  power  over  men  under  the  protection 


THE   ALIEN  AND   SEDITION   LAWS  7 1 

of  the  respective  States  in  which  they  dwelled, 
and  in  denying  them  trial  by  jury.  The  law 
expired  in  two  years. 

The  Sedition  Law  was  also  in  two  sections, 
one  of  which  made  it  a  serious  offence  to  con- 
spire to  oppose  any  National  law.  This  was 
opposed  by  no  one ;  but  the  other,  which  made 
it  a  crime  to  print  or  publish  any  false,  scandal- 
ous, or  malicious  matter  against  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  either  House  of  Con- 
gress, or  the  President,  was  most  bitterly  op- 
posed. This  was  claimed  to  be  unconstitutional 
on  the  ground  that  the  Constitution  guaranteed 
the  right  of  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the 
press,  and  also  on  the  ground  that  it  enlarged 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Federal  courts  without 
legal  warrant.  The  law  was  not  more  severe 
than  the  libel  laws  in  some  of  the  States, 
but  it  took  the  power  from  local  judges  and 
juries  and  put  it  into  the  hands  of  Federal 
officers.  There  were  but  two  of  the  Federalist 
leaders  who  were  wise  enough  to  foresee  that 
this  law  was  likely  to  work  injury  to  the  Fed- 
eral party.  These  were  Alexander  Hamilton 
and  John  Marshall ;  but  their  protests  were  not 


^2        SIDE  LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

heeded.  This  law  was  aimed  at  some  of  the 
most  radical  Republican  editors,  who  had  been 
quite  reckless  in  criticising  the  President  and 
his  party. 

Most  vehemently  did  the  Republican  press 
denounce  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws. 
"Freedom  of  speech  and  liberty  of  the 
press,"  cried  the  followers  of  Jefferson,  "these 
are  our  rights,  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution. 
Who  has  the  right  to  interfere  with  them  ? " 
This  was  their  chief  campaign  cry  two  years 
later  in  the  National  contest,  and  it  won  Jef- 
ferson thousands  of  votes  from  the  Federal 
party. 

The  Sedition  Law  in  Operation 

The  Alien  Law  was  never  enforced.  The 
Sedition  Law,  which  was  to  expire  with  Ad- 
ams's presidential  term,  was  put  into  operation 
soon  after  its  passage.  The  first  victim 
was  Matthew  Lyon,  a  member  of  the  Lower 
House  of  Congress  from  Vermont.  Lyon  was 
an  Irishman  by  birth,  had  been  brought  to 
this  country  as  a  redemptioner  when  a  boy, 
had  served  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  and 


THE  ALIEN   AND    SEDITION   LAWS  73 

vas  now  sent  to  Congress  from  the  State  of 
his  adoption.  He  was  an  impetuous  Republi- 
can ;  he  despised  all  pomp  and  all  monarchial 
tendency,  and  became  an  object  of  extreme 
dislike  to  the  Federalists. 

Lyon  figured  in  the  first  physical  contest 
on  the  floor  of  the  House.  While  he  was 
speaking  one  day,  Mr.  Griswold,  one  of  the 
Federal  leaders  who  hated  him,  made  an 
offensive  remark  in  an  undertone.  Lyon  was 
deeply  insulted,  and  instantly  turned  and  spat 
in  Griswold's  face.  The  excitement  became 
intense  among  the  members,  and  a  motion 
soon  followed  to  expel  Lyon  from  the  House. 
The  motion  was  lost  by  a  strict  party  vote. 
The  chagrin  and  rage  of  the  Federalists  was 
now  at  the  boiling-point,  and  the  trouble  was 
not  yet  over. 

A  few  days  later  Griswold  came  into  the 
House  with  a  heavy  stick  in  his  hand,  and 
began  beating  Lyon  with  it  while  the  latter 
was  sitting  in  his  seat.  Lyon  now  ran  to  the 
fireplace,  seized  the  tongs,  and  the  two  states- 
men engaged  in  a  rough  and  tumble  fight, 
rolling   over   the   floor   together   several   times 


74        SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

amid  the  greatest  excitement  of  the  other 
members.  Friends  soon  parted  the  comba- 
tants, and  a  motion  was  made  to  expel  both 
from  the  House.  But  as  both  had  equally 
offended,  their  friends  decided  at  length  to 
drop  the  whole  matter,  and  this  was  done. 

But  Matthew  Lyon's  troubles  were  only 
begun.  Soon  after  the  Sedition  Law  took 
effect,  this  Vermont  statesman  found  himself 
arrested  and  called  on  to  answer  for  a  letter 
he  had  published  in  a  Vermont  paper  criticis- 
ing the  administration.  About  the  severest 
thing  in  this  letter  was  this :  "  Every  con- 
sideration of  the  public  welfare  is  swallowed 
up  in  a  continual  grasp  for  power,  an  un- 
bounded thirst  for  ridiculous  pomp,  foolish 
adulation,  and  selfish  avarice." 

This  language  was  no  worse  than  that  used 
by  scores  of  editors  and  pamphleteers  of  both 
parties ;  but  the  Federalists  despised  this 
"wild  Irishman,"  as  they  called  him,  and  im- 
proved this  opportunity  to  wreak  their  ven- 
geance on  him.  Matthew  Lyon  was  seized, 
and,  after  a  short  trial,  was  fined  one  thousand 
dollars,  and   sent   to   prison   for   four  months. 


THE  ALIEN   AND    SEDITION   LAWS  75 

A  petition  was  soon  sent  to  the  President 
begging  him  to  pardon  Lyon ;  but,  as  the  pris- 
oner himself  refused  to  ask  for  a  pardon, 
President  Adams  declined  to  grant  it. 

There  was  one  occurrence  that  brought  joy 
to  Lyon's  heart  in  the  midst  of  his  misfor- 
tunes. He  was  triumphantly  reelected  to  Con- 
gress while  still  in  prison.  This  proved  that 
the  people  were  still  with  him. 

To  pay  his  fine  his  friends  started  a  lottery. 
In  those  days  lotteries  were  common.  Public 
buildings,  school-houses,  bridges,  court-houses 
and  the  like  were  often  built  with  money 
raised  by  lottery.  Lyon's  friends  now  took 
this  means  of  relieving  his  distress ;  and  Has- 
well,  the  editor  who  called  upon  the  people 
to  support  the  lottery,  used  such  language  as 
to  land  himself  in  prison  under  the  same  law ! 

Thus  we  have  a  sample  of  the  practical 
working  of  the  Sedition  Law.  About  ten 
men,  all  editors,  fell  victims  to  the  law.  One 
man,  Thomas  Cooper,  was  imprisoned  for  say- 
ing that  "the  President  was  hardly  in  the 
infancy  of  political  mistake ;  "  another,  named 
Frothingham,  for  accusing  Hamilton  of  trying 


y6        SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

to  purchase  a   Republican  paper  in  the  inter- 
est of  Federalism. 

It  was  plain  that  the  law  was  not  based  on 
patriotism,  nor  was  it  passed  for  any  good 
purpose.  It  was  vindictive  and  born  of  par- 
tisan bitterness.  But  its  effect  was  opposite 
that  intended.  It  told  heavily  on  the  party 
that  had  fathered  it. 

The  Kentucky  and  Virginia  Resolutions 

Before  the  close  of  the  year  1798,  and  while 
these  obnoxious  laws  were  still  in  force,  the 
Kentucky  legislature  passed  a  series  of  resolu- 
tions severely  condemning  the  Alien  and  Sedi- 
tion Laws.  A  few  weeks  later  the  legislature 
of  Virginia  adopted  a  series  of  very  similar 
resolutions,  but  somewhat  milder  in  tone. 
These  expressions  from  these  two  legislative 
bodies  attracted  much  attention  and  became 
famous  in  American  history.  It  was  not 
known  at  the  time  who  wrote  them ;  but  it 
was  found  many  years  afterward  that  Thomas 
Jefferson  was  the  author  of  the  Kentucky 
Resolutions,  and  James  Madison  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Resolutions. 


THE  ALIEN  AND  SEDITION  LAWS  JJ 

The  Kentucky  Resolutions  were  nine  in 
number.  They  had  been  introduced  into  the 
legislature  by  George  Nicholas,  who  had  re- 
ceived them  from  Jefferson.  Nicholas  changed 
and  modified  them,  somewhat.  They  defined 
the  Union  as  a  compact  in  which  the  States 
were  a  party,  the  Constitution  being  the 
written  agreement  defining  the  powers  of  the 
General  Government.  They  pronounced  for 
a  strict  construction  of  the  Constitution,  and 
claimed  that  the  States  as  such  had  the  right 
to  judge  of  the  constitutionality  of  National 
law,  and  that  any  infractions  of  the  Constitu- 
tion should  be  opposed  by  the  States.  The 
next  year  this  legislature  added  a  more  severe 
resolution,  declaring  that  the  States  were 
sovereign  and  independent,  and  that  nullifica- 
tion was  the  rightful  remedy  for  an  unconsti- 
tutional law. 

The  Virginia  Resolutions  were  eight  in 
number.  They  declared  if  Congress  enacted 
laws  that  were  unconstitutional,  it  was  the 
right  and  duty  of  the  States  to  interpose  and 
arrest  the  progress  of  the  evil.  These  reso- 
lutions,  as    well    as    those    of    Kentucky,   all 


78        SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

aimed  directly  or  indirectly  at  the  Alien  and 
Sedition  Laws,  and  their  authors  called  upon 
the  other  States  to  express  themselves  on  the 
subject.  Several  State  legislatures  answered 
them,  but  they  all  took  the  opposite  ground, 
claiming  that  the  States  had,  no  right  to 
judge  of  the  acts  of  the  Federal  Government. 

The  Kentucky  and  Virginia  Resolutions 
opened  a  grave  question  that  was  not  fully 
settled  for  more  than  half  a  century,  and  had 
to  be  decided  at  last  by  an  appeal  to  the 
sword.  That  question  was  whether  the 
United  States  of  America  was  simply  a  com- 
pact, a  confederation  of  independent  States; 
or  was  it  a  Federal  Government,  a  nation, 
with  all  the  powers  of  sovereignty  and  self- 
preservation  ? 

South  Carolina  made  much  of  these  resolu- 
tions, fathered  by  the  great  Jefferson,  the 
Democratic  idol,  when  adopting  her  Nullifica- 
tion Ordinance  in  1832.  The  school  of 
Southern  statesmen,  led  by  Calhoun,  based 
their  doctrine  of  State  sovereignty  largely  on 
the  same  ground.  Even  in  1861  the  seceding 
States  of  the  South,  in  arguing  for  the   right 


THE  ALIEN   AND   SEDITION   LAWS  79 

of  secession,  freely  quoted  the  resolutions  of 
Jefferson.  But  to  assert  that  the  Kentucky 
and  Virginia  Resolutions  were  the  original 
cause  of  nullification  and  secession,  would  be 
to  assert  altogether  too  much.  The  condi- 
tions of  the  North  and  the  South  were  so 
unlike  that  an  ultimate  conflict  between  them 
was  inevitable. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  finally,  that  these 
resolutions  did  not  represent  the  sober,  good 
sense  of  Thomas  Jefferson ;  this  is  plainly 
shown  by  his  public  acts  and  later  corre- 
spondence. They  were  written  in  time  of 
great  political  excitement,  and  there  is  little 
doubt  that  the  author  (for  Jefferson,  and  not 
Madison,  was  the  real  author)  felt  an  honest 
fear  that  the  Federal  party  was  usurping  too 
much  power,  and  was  establishing  a  danger- 
ous precedent.  This  he  wished  to  counter- 
act, and  he  employed  the  means  that 
promised  to  be  most  effective.  No  American 
statesman  has  been  more  patriotic  than  Jeffer- 
son, and  the  dismemberment  of  the  Union 
for  any  cause  was  no  part  of  his  political 
creed. 


CHAPTER  V 

Fulton  and  the  Steamboat 
/ 

We  have   spoken   of   the    Revolution  which 

took  place  in   this   country  in   the   latter  part 

of    the     eighteenth     century.       This    was     a 

political     revolution,   and     its     effect     on    the 

American     people    was    far-reaching     indeed, 

while   its   influence   has   been   felt   throughout 

the  world.     But   there  was   another  revolution 

that    soon    followed    this,    of     the     industrial 

world,    and   its   effect   on    mankind    has   been 

even   greater   than   that   of   the  former.     This 

second   revolution  was   brought   about,  not  by 

the  marshalling  of   armies*  and  the  convulsion 

of   nations,  but   silently,  in   the  brain  and  the 

workshop  of  the  man  of   genius.     It  came  by 

the     invention     of     steam     navigation.       The 

steamboat,    the    steamship,    and    the    railway 

have  all  come  into   use  within   the   nineteenth 

century,    and     their    use     has     revolutionized 

80 


FULTON  AND  THE  STEAMBOAT  8 1 

commerce  and  human  intercourse,  and  made 
a  vast  stride  toward  our  modern  civilization. 

Strange  to  say,  the  means  of  travel  had 
not  improved  for  more  than  two  thousand 
years ;  stranger  still,  in  the  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury following  "1806  the  commercial  world 
was  revolutionized  by  the  subserving  to 
man's  use  of  a  simple  natural  law,  as  old  as 
creation.  It  was  known  to  the  ancients  that 
the  expansion  of  water  into  steam  exerted  a 
powerful  force,  but  it  was  left  for  modern 
times  to  apply  that  force  to  practical  pur- 
poses, and  the  result  has  been  marvellous. 

The  world,  on  receiving  some  benefaction, 
loves  to  choose  out  some  particular  person  on 
whom  to  bestow  its  homage,  often  neglecting 
to  award  its  gratitude  to  others  equally 
deserving.  For  the  wonderful  benefits  of 
steam  navigation  the  world  has  chosen  to 
honor  one  name  far  above  all  others,  and 
that  is  the  name  of  Robert  Fulton.  In  this 
case  the  honor  is  not  misplaced ;  but  it  is 
also  true  that  Fulton's  achievements  rested  on 
the  work  of  others,  without  which  he  could 
not  have  succeeded. 


82        SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Fulton's  Predecessors 

The  steam-engine  was  invented  by  a  Scotch- 
man, James  Watt,  some  thirty-five  years  before 
Fulton's  success  on  the  Hudson.  But  more 
strictly  speaking,  Watt  simply  improved  and 
perfected  the  clumsy  steam-engine  of  New- 
comen,  which  had  been  in  use  for  half  a  cen- 
tury. 

The  subject  of  steam  navigation  had  been 
talked  of  for  many  years  before  Robert  Fulton 
was  born,  as  we  now  hear  of  aerial  navigation 
and  the  like.  The  first  known  attempt  to 
apply  steam  to  navigation  was  by  a  man  wholly 
unknown  to  fame,  William  Henry,  a  gunsmith 
of  Lancaster, *  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Henry  was 
the  leading  gunsmith  of  his  province  during 
the  French  and  Indian  War.  In  1763  he  made 
an  engine  from  models  he  had  seen  in  Eng- 
land, attached  it  to  a  boat  with  paddles,  and 
experimented  on  the  Conestoga  Creek  near 
Lancaster.  His  attempt  was  not  successful, 
but  it  is  believed  that  he  was  first  to  originate 
the  idea  of  the  steamboat 

1  Thurston's  "  Robert  Fulton,"  p.  30. 


FULTON   AND  THE   STEAMBOAT  83 

In  1786  James  Rumsey  was  experimenting 
on  the  Potomac  River  with  a  steamboat  of  his 
own  construction.  His  plan  was  to  force  a 
stream  of  water  backward  and  thus  propel  the 
boat  forward.  General  Washington  saw  the 
working  of  Rumsey' s  boat,  and  stated  in  a 
letter  that  he  considered  the  discovery  one  of 
vast  importance. 

One  more  of  these  predecessors,  and  the 
most  important  of  all,  we  must  notice  —  John 
Fitch.  The  life  of  John  Fitch  was  tragical 
and  sad.  He  was  an  inventive  genius  of  the 
first  rank,  but  a  more  unfortunate  man  would 
be  hard  to  name.  He  was  the  son  of  a 
Connecticut  farmer.  His  father  was  a  hard- 
hearted man,  and  his  boyhood  was  passed  with 
little  pleasure.  Intensely  desirous  of  acquir- 
ing knowledge,  his  stern  and  niggardly  father, 
though  amply  able  to  procure  them,  refused 
him  the  necessary  books.  On  reaching  man- 
hood he  married  a  woman  with  such  a  bad 
temper  that  he  could  not  live  with  her,  and  he 
became  a  wanderer  in  the  earth. 1 

At  the  same  time  that  Rumsey  was  experi- 

1  Parton's  "  People's  Biography,"  p.  146  sq. 


§4        SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

meriting  on  the  Potomac,  we  find  Fitch  with  a 
similar  craft  on  the  Delaware.  At  first  he 
made  a  very  small  engine  and  applied  it  to  a 
very  small  boat,  and  succeeded  in  running  it 
up-stream  at  the  rate  of  seven  miles  an  hour. 
Then  he  made  a  boat  forty-five  feet  long  and 
placed  in  it  a  larger  engine,  and  soon  began  to 
make  regular  trips  from  Philadelphia  to  Bor- 
dentown  and  Trenton.  It  carried  passengers, 
and  in  all  ran  about  two  thousand  miles,  when 
its  usefulness  was  over.  The  curiosity  of  the 
public  had  been  gratified ;  and  as  the  boat  did 
not  pay,  the  people  refused  to  take  further 
interest  in  it,  believing  the  whole  scheme 
impracticable. 

Not  so  with  Fitch.  His  soul  was  on  fire 
with  the  scheme ;  he  foresaw  steam  navigation 
to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea,  and  he  fully 
believed  that  the  time  had  come  for  the  new 
movement  to  begin.  He  also  believed  in  him- 
self ;  he  believed  that  he  was  capable  of  carry- 
ing out  his  schemes,  and  no  one  at  this  day 
doubts  that  he  was  right.  But  he  was  penni- 
less, the  clothes  on  his  back  were  turning  to 
rags,  but  he  did  not  care  for  that.     He  wanted 


FULTON  AND  THE  STEAMBOAT  85 

money  to  build  another  boat,  but  the  public 
had  lost  interest  in  his  projects.  In  vain  did 
he  appeal  to  Congress  for  assistance,  in  vain 
did  he  try  to  enlist  the  aid  of  wealthy  men. 
At  last  genius  had  to  flit  itself  away  and  die 
for  want  of  material  aid.  At  last  poor  John 
Fitch  gave  up  his  hopes  with  a  broken  heart. 
He  wandered  to  the  West  and  settled  on  a 
little  farm  in  the  wilderness  of  Kentucky, 
where  he  died,  some  years  later,  by  his  own 
hand.  Had  he  received  the  needed  assistance, 
there  is  little  doubt  that  the  name  of  John 
Fitch  would  hold  the  place  to-day  that  is  held 
by  that  of  Robert  Fulton. 

Early  Life  of  Robert  Fulton 

While  John  Fitch  was  building  his  boat 
on  the  Delaware,  there  was  a  young  artist 
aged  twenty  years,  living  at  Second  and  Wal- 
nut streets,  Philadelphia.  He  was  a  keen  ob- 
server of  what  Fitch  was  doing.  His  name 
was  Robert  Fulton.  He  was  of  Irish  descent, 
and  first  saw  the  light  on  a  farm  in  Lancaster 
County,  Pennsylvania,  in  1765.  At  the  early 
age  of  three  years  he  was  left  fatherless  and 


86       SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

his  mother  was  poor.  Robert  was  sent  to  school, 
where  he  made  fair  progress,  but  his  thoughts 
were  more  taken  with  the  workshops  of  Lan- 
cester,  to  which  city  the  family  had  moved. 
He  began  his  career  of  invention  at  an  early 
age.  When  ten  years  old  he  made  lead- 
pencils,  which  were  pronounced  almost  as 
good  as  the  best  made  at  that  time.  At  the 
age  of  thirteen  he  invented  a  sky-rocket,  and 
at  fourteen  an  air-gun.  Congress  had  a  gun- 
shop  at  Lancester  during  the  Revolution,  and 
young  Fulton  frequented  the  place  until,  while 
still  a  child,  he  became  an  expert  gunsmith. 
Robert  Fulton  had  also  a  natural  talent  for 
painting,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  he  went 
to  Philadelphia,  determined  to  become  an 
artist.  Here  he  remained  for  four  years,  and 
not  only  became  an  excellent  artist,  but 
earned  money  enough  to  return  at  the  age 
of  twenty-one,  and  purchase  for  his  mother  a 
small  farm.  This  done,  the  ambitious  youth 
sailed  for  Europe  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the 
great  world. 


FULTON  AND  THE   STEAMBOAT  87 

Fulton  in  Foreign  Lands 

He  went  to  London  and  sought  the  home 
of  Benjamin  West,  the  great  American  artist, 
then  residing  in  that  city.  West  had  been 
born  in  the  same  State  with  Fulton,  Pennsyl- 
vania; their  fathers  had  been  old  friends,  and 
now  the  world-famous  artist  opened  wide  his 
door  to  the  aspiring  boy  from  his  own  land. 
Fulton  became  a  pupil  of  West  and  resided 
in  his  house  for  several  years. 

But  while  Robert  Fulton  was  a  successful 
artist,  he  was  not  a  great  artist,  and  none 
knew  it  better  than  himself.  His  mind  re- 
verted to  the  inventions  and  aspirations  of  his 
childhood,  and  at  length  he  decided  to  give 
up  painting  and  become  a  civil  engineer  and 
an  inventor.  He  remained  several  years  longer 
in  England  and  while  there  invented  a  machine 
for  sawing  marble,  and  another  for  spinning 
flax,  and  still  another  for  making  ropes.  He 
next  invented  a  mechanical  power-shovel  which 
was  used  in  England  for  many  years.  He  was 
also  the  originator  of  the  submarine  torpedo 
used   for   destroying   vessels   of   war.     Among 


88        SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

his  intimate  acquaintances  were  many  of  the 
leading  men  in  England.  He  was  the  author 
of  several  books  on  various  mechanical  sub- 
jects. During  all  this  period  his  mind  was 
full  of  steam  navigation.  The  papers  of  Fitch 
had  fallen  into  his  hands,  and  he  studied  them 
with  the  utmost  care. 

In  1802  he  went  to  France,  and  in  Paris  he 
met  a  friend  who  proved  to  be  the  benefactor 
of  his  life.  It  was  Robert  R.  Livingston  of 
New  York,  the  man  who  had  pronounced 
the  oath  of  office  to  President  Washington, 
and  who  was  now  minister  to  France.  Living- 
ston had  also  been  thinking  much  of  naviga- 
tion by  steam.  He  had  not  genius,  it  is  true; 
but  he  had  something  else  almost  equally 
necessary  —  he  had  money.  In  a  short  time 
a  compact  was  made  between  Livingston  and 
Fulton,  and  their  aim  was  to  navigate  the 
Seine  River  by  steam,  the  former  furnishing 
the  money,  the  latter  the  brains. 

Fulton  soon  had  his  boat  ready,  sixty-six 
feet  in  length,  and  to  this  an  engine  was 
adapted.  The  time  was  at  hand  for  making 
the  trial   trip.     Fulton    had   spent   a   sleepless 


FULTON  AND  THE   STEAMBOAT  89 

night,  and  on  rising  in  the  morning  a  mes- 
senger from  the  boat,  with  despair  in  his  face, 
rushed  into  his  room,  and  exclaimed :  — 

"  Oh,  sir,  the  boat  has  broken  to  pieces  and 
gone  to  the  bottom  !  " 

Fulton  was  overwhelmed  with  grief.  Has- 
tening to  the  river,  he  instantly  began  the 
task  of  raising  the  vessel  with  his  own  hands, 
and  he  kept  at  it,  without  food  or  rest,  for 
twenty-four  hours.  From  the  injury  to  his 
health,  occasioned  by  this  exertion,  he  never 
fully  recovered. 

In  a  few  weeks  the  vessel  had  been  raised 
and  rebuilt,  and  at  the  trial  trip  in  July,  1803, 
a  vast  crowd  of  people  stood  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  and  shouted  their  acclamations  of 
approval.  But  Fulton  saw  that  the  vessel  was 
imperfect,  and  that  a  new  engine  must  be 
procured.  As  Chancellor  Livington  was  now 
about  to  sail  for  America,  it  was  decided  that 
the  next  experiment  be  made  on  the  Hudson 
River. 


90        SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

The  Clermont  on  the  Hudson 
Robert  Fulton  was  not  the  inventor  of  the 
steamboat,  as  is    commonly  supposed ;  but   he 
was  the  first  to  put  it  into  practical  use.     The 
poet  Lowell  has  said :  — 

"  Though  old  the  thought  and  oft  expressed, 
'Tis  his  at  last  who  says  it  best." 

This  is  true  in  mechanics  as  well  as  in  poetry. 
Fulton  adopted  and  improved  on  the  ideas  of 
William  Henry,  of  James  Rumsey,  of  John 
Fitch,  and  others,  and  where  they  had  failed 
he  succeeded.  The  world  applauds  success, 
but  it  seldom  forgives  the  one  who  fails.  Ful- 
ton has  received  the  honor  that  he  deserved, 
while  the  others,  scarcely  less  deserving,  have 
been  forgotten  by  the  great  public. 

Again,  the  highest  peak  in  a  mountain 
system  is  the  noted  one ;  others  almost  as  lofty 
are  scarcely  noticed.  Methuselah  is  the  world's 
example  of  great  age,  while  few  consider  that 
there  were  others  who  lacked  but  a  few  years  of 
reaching  the  same  age.  So  with  the  inventors 
of  the  steamboat.  At  the  time  Fulton  was 
building  the  Clermont  there  were  movements  of 


FULTON  AND   THE   STEAMBOAT  91 

the  same  kind  in  various  parts  of  the  world, 
independent  of  his.  The  scientific  world  at 
that  moment  was  absorbed  with  the  one  great 
subject  —  navigation  by  steam.  Fulton  had 
great  advantages ;  he  had  a  monopoly  of 
the  Hudson  River,  he  had  Livingston  as  his 
partner.  Perhaps  he  was  the  greatest  genius 
of  them  all;  at  least  he  succeeded  first;  thus 
he  gained  public  applause,  and  became  the 
popular  hero.  His  fame  is  now  world-wide, 
and  perhaps  will  never  diminish. 

But  who  besides  specialists  and  historians 
has  heard  of  John  Stephens?  He  was  an 
inventive  genius  of  great  skill.  Having  re- 
ceived his  ideas  of  steam  navigation  from 
Fitch,  he  labored  for  years  to  construct  a 
steamboat.  He  succeeded  at  last  in  1807  — 
just  after  Fulton  had  won  the  popular  heart. 
In  a  few  years  he  had  steamboats  plying  on 
the  Delaware  and  Connecticut  rivers.  Had  it 
not  been  for  Fulton,  Stephens  would  probably 
to-day  be  honored  as  the  inventor  of  the 
steamboat. 

Let  us  return  to  our  subject.  Fulton  and 
Livingston    determined    to    make    their    next 


92        SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

attempt  in  America.  They  ordered  a  steam- 
engine  of  Watt,  in  England,  without  revealing 
the  object  for  which  it  was  intended.  Fulton 
went  to  England  to  oversee  its  construction, 
which  took  nearly  three  years.  It  reached 
New  York  in  1806,  and  its  owners  soon  had  a 
boat  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  feet  long,  of 
one  hundred  and  sixty  tons.  The  steam-power 
was  applied  by  means  of  a  paddle-wheel. 
Fitch  had  employed  an  endless  chain  with 
paddles  attached,  and  Stephens  used  a  screw- 
propeller. 

Fulton  named  his  boat  the  Clermont,  after 
Livingston's  country-seat  on  the  Hudson.  The 
trial  trip  was  made  in  August,  1807.  A  vast 
crowd  of  people  stood  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  to  witness  the  experiment,  few  believing 
it  would  be  successful.  The  moment  came, 
and  the  Clermont  moved  out  into  the  river, 
running  against  the  current  at  the  rate  of  four 
miles  an  hour. 

The  trip  to  Albany,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles,  was  covered  in  thirty-two  hours,  an 
average  of  nearly  five  miles  an  hour,  while  the 
return  trip  took  but  thirty  hours. 


FULTON  AND  THE  STEAMBOAT  93 

The  boat  was  described  as  "a  monster 
moving  on  the  waters,  defying  wind  and  tide, 
breathing  flames  and  smoke."  The  fuel  used 
was  dry  pine,  and  the  flames  rose  above  the 
smoke-pipe.  It  was  said  that  in  some  of  the 
vessels  met  by  the  Clermont,  "  the  crews  shrank 
beneath  the  decks  from  the  terrific  sight  and 
let  their  vessels  run  ashore;  while  others 
prostrated  themselves  and  besought  Providence 
to  protect  them  from  the  horrible  monster 
which  was  marching  on  the  tides,  and  lighting 
its  path  by  the  fires  which  it  vomited." 

The  great  question  was  now  settled  ;  naviga- 
tion by  steam  was  an  assured  fact.  A  New 
York  paper  made  the  statement  that  there 
would  soon  be  steamboats  on  the  Mississippi, 
and  it  was  believed  that  they  would  make  two 
miles  an  hour  against  its  strong  current.  What 
would  the  editor  have  thought  had  he  foreseen 
that  long  before  the  century's  close  the  sea 
would  be  covered  with  steamships,  some  of 
twelve  thousand  tons  burden,  "  ocean  grey- 
hounds," that  would  cross  the  Atlantic  in  less 
than  six  days,  averaging  more  than  twenty 
miles  an  hour! 


94        SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

After  the  Clermont  had  made  her  successful 
trial  trip,  she  was  scheduled  to  make  regular 
trips  twice  a  week  from  New  York  City  to 
Albany,  the  charge  for  a  passenger  being  seven 
dollars  each  way.  She  was  usually  loaded  with 
passengers,  and  the  owners  found  the  business 
a  paying  one  from  the  start.  During  the 
winter  the  Clermont  was  enlarged  and  repaired, 
and  two  other  steamboats,  the  Raritan  and  the 
Car  of  Neptune,  were  added  to  the  service  the 
following  year.  Within  seven  years  Fulton  had 
twelve  steamboats,  all  built  under  his  directions, 
plying  the  waters  around  New  York. 

Robert  Fulton  was  the  hero  of  the  hour.  He 
was  a  tall,  handsome  man,  rather  slenderly 
built,  graceful  and  refined.  He  had  risen 
socially  as  well  as  otherwise ;  he  had  married  a 
niece  of  Chancellor  Livingston,  and  his  asso- 
ciates were  the  leading  men  of  Europe  and 
America.  His  name  was  on  every  tongue,  but 
he  was  very  modest  and  gave  his  whole  energy 
to  the  further  improvement  of  the  use  of  steam- 
power.  But  he  was  not  long  left  to  enjoy  his 
triumph.  Death  claimed  him  while  in  the  midst 
of  his  useful  life.      In  January,   1815,  he  was 


FULTON   AND   THE   STEAMBOAT  95 

called  to  Trenton  to  testify  in  a  court  trial.  On 
his  return  he  crossed  the  Hudson  in  an  open 
boat  amid  heavy  floating  ice.  He  caught  a 
severe  cold  which  resulted  in  a  serious  illness. 
When  only  partially  recovered  he  went  to  the 
Brooklyn  navy-yard  to  oversee  the  building 
of  a  vessel,  and  was  exposed  to  the  cold  for 
several  hours.  He  suffered  a  relapse,  and  on 
February  the  24th  he  died,  aged  fifty  years. 
Seldom  in  our  history  has  the  death  of  a  private 
citizen  caused  such  universal  mourning  as  did 
that  of  Robert  Fulton.  But  his  work  was  done. 
He  had  risen  from  the  ranks  of  the  lowly  and 
achieved  the  highest  success.  He  did  a  great 
service  for  mankind,  and  the  glory  of  his  fame 
will  not  fade. 


CHAPTER  VI 
The  Lewis  and  Clarke  Expedition1 

At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century 
the  Great  West,  from  the  Mississippi  River 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  was  a  vast,  unbroken 
wilderness.  Before  such  a  region  can  be 
claimed  for  civilization  —  even  before  the  pio- 
neer makes  his  home  in  the  forest  —  must  come 
the  explorer.  The  most  notable  exploring  expe- 
dition since  De  Soto  and  Marquette  was  that 
of   Lewis  and  Clarke  in  the  great  Northwest. 

The  father  of  this  expedition  was  Thomas 
Jefferson.  As  early  as  1792  he  proposed  to 
the  American  Philosophical  Society  that  an 
expedition  be  sent  up  the  Missouri  River  to 
cross  the  "  Stony  Mountains,"  as  the  Rocky 
Mountains  were  then  called,  and  to  follow  the 
nearest  river  to  the  Pacific.  When  he  became 
President  in  1801,  his  pet  project  was  still  on 

1  For  the  material  of  this  chapter  I  have  drawn  largely  on 
the  account  of  H.  H.  Bancroft,  Vol.  X.  — E. 
96 


THE  LEWIS  AND   CLARKE   EXPEDITION       97 

his  mind,  and  this  desire  was  greatly  inten- 
sified two  years  later  by  the  Louisiana  Pur- 
chase, which  added  a  vast  territory  of  unknown 
bounds  to  the  public  domain. 

There  was  a  young  man  in  Jefferson's  em- 
ploy as  private  secretary,  named  Meriwether 
Lewis,  who  was  very  anxious  to  lead  the  pro- 
posed exploring  party.  He  had  been  a  captain 
in  the  army,  and  Jefferson,  knowing  him  to  be 
a  man  of  a  daring,  adventurous  spirit,  of  truth- 
fulness and  discretion,  appointed  him  to  the 
command.  Lewis  was  elated  with  his  appoint- 
ment ;  he  hastened  to  Philadelphia,  and  spent 
several  months  in  the  study  of  geography, 
botany,  and  astronomy,  that  he  might  be  able  to 
do  the  work  before  him  the  more  intelligently. 

The  instructions  were  written  in  Jefferson's 
own  hand,  and  were  signed  in  June,  1803. 
By  them  Lewis  was  directed  to  provide  him- 
self with  arms  and  ammunition,  with  tents, 
boats,  provisions,  and  medicines,  and  also  with 
many  articles  for  presents  and  barter  with  the 
Indians.  Lewis  chose  Captain  William  Clarke 
of  the  United  States  Army  as  second  in  com- 
mand,   and    proceeded    to    Pittsburg    in    July, 


98        SIDE  LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

where  part  of  his  outfit  was  to  be  provided. 
Later  in  the  summer  he  went  down  the  Ohio 
and  up  the  Mississippi,  and  encamped  for  the 
winter  with  his  company  on  the  eastern  bank 
of  that  river,  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
souri. The  winter  was  spent  in  drilling  the 
men,  and  in  making  preparation  for  the  ascent 
of  the  Missouri  in  the  early  spring. 

The  expedition  was  composed  of  twenty- 
eight  men,  half  of  whom  were  soldiers ;  nine 
were  young  Kentuckians,  two  Frenchmen,  one 
was  a  hunter,  one  an  interpreter,  and  the  re- 
maining one  a  negro  servant  of  Captain  Clarke. 
In  the  company  we  find  the  famous  scout  and 
Indian  fighter,  Lewis  Wetzel.  In  all  our  his- 
tory of  Indian  warfare  Lewis  Wetzel  stands 
without  a  superior  in  daring  and  reckless 
bravery.  Escaping  at  the  age  of  thirteen 
from  a  band  of  Indians  who  had  murdered 
his  father,  he  took  a  solemn  oath  that  he 
would  kill  every  Indian  that  it  came  in  his 
power  to  kill  as  long  as  he  should  live  —  and 
he  kept  his  word.  He  could  follow  a  trail 
with  the  keenness  of  a  bloodhound;  he  could 
load    his   rifle   while    running    at    his    highest 


THE   LEWIS   AND   CLARKE   EXPEDITION       99 

speed ;  and  woe  to  the  dusky  warrior  that 
came  within  range  of  his  deadly  aim  !  Cap- 
tain Clarke,  knowing  of  Wetzel's  unerring  aim 
and  his  wonderful  knowledge  of  the  woods, 
and  believing  that  he  would  make  a  valuable 
member  of  the  party,  persuaded  him  to  join 
it.  But  Wetzel  was  accustomed  to  the  wild 
freedom  of  the  wilderness ;  he  disliked  the  mili- 
tary discipline  of  an  organized  expedition ;  and, 
after  accompanying  them  for  three  months, 
suddenly  left  them  and  returned  to  his  native 
haunts  on  the  Ohio. 

Ascending  the  Missouri 

The  party  embarked  in  three  boats  on  May 
14,  1804,  and  ascended  the  Missouri  at  the 
rate  of  twelve  to  fifteen  miles  per  day.  Their 
largest  boat  was  fifty-five  feet  long,  and  carried 
one  sail  and  twenty-two  oars.  They  had  gone 
but  eight  days  when  they  made  their  first  trade 
with  Indians  —  two  quarts  of  whiskey  for  four 
fine  deer.  The  forests  were  full  of  game  and 
the  rivers  abounded  with  fish,  both  of  which 
they  secured  in  abundance.  After  they  had 
journeyed    some    weeks    they    frequently    met 


IOO     SIDE   LIGHTS    ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

with  Indian  tribes,  most  of  whom  were  quite 
friendly. 

One  day  in  July,  soon  after  they  had  passed 
the  mouth  of  the  Platte  River,  one  of  the  party, 
while  hunting  in  the  forest,  came  upon  three 
Indians  dressing  an  elk.  They  belonged  to 
the  tribe  of  the  Ottoes,  and  it  was  arranged 
that  the  tribe  hold  council  with  the  explorers. 
The  latter  chose  a  bluff  on  the  east  bank  of 
the  river,  where  they  pitched  their  tents  and 
awaited  the  Indians.  The  view  from  this  place 
was  one  of  striking  beauty.  In  the  distance 
were  seen  groves  of  cottonwood  and  elm,  rising 
here  and  there  from  the  prairie,  and  the  majes- 
tic river  winding  silently  away  among  the 
hills. 

The  conference  was  held  on  the  3d  of  Au- 
gust, and  the  Indian  chiefs  were  presented 
with  medals  and  other  trinkets.  They  seemed 
greatly  pleased  with  their  strange  white  visitors 
from  the  East.  The  council  being  held  on  a 
bluff  of  the  river,  the  place  was  called  Council 
Bluffs,  a  name  retained  by  the  flourishing  city 
and  railway  centre  that  afterward  grew  up  on 
the  spot.     Two  weeks  later  they  encamped  at 


THE  LEWIS   AND   CLAfcKE   EXPEDITION,  tOl 

the  mouth  of  a  little  river  where  now  Sioux 
City,  Iowa,  is  situated.  One  of  their  number, 
Mr.  Floyd,  had  died,  and  they  gave  his  name 
to  the  river.  Here  they  held  council  with  the 
Mahas  tribe,  and  some  miles  farther  up,  with 
the  Sioux.  Similar  councils  were  held  with 
many  other  tribes.  These  Indians  were  highly 
pleased  with  the  whiskey  and  trinkets  received 
from  the  white  men.  But  there  was  one  tribe, 
the  Ricaras,  that  refused  to  accept  whiskey. 
"  Why,"  they  asked,  "  should  they  be  offered 
drink  which  made  fools  of  them  ? " 

The  expedition  had,  by  the  last  of  October, 
penetrated  far  into  the  Northwest  Territory ;  the 
weather  was  now  growing  cold,  and  the  men 
determined  to  stop  for  the  winter.  They  built 
several  strong  log  houses,  and  found  them  quite 
comfortable.  The  blacksmith  of  the  party  put 
up  a  furnace,  and  made  knife-blades  and  spear- 
points,  which  they  traded  to  the  natives  for 
corn.  The  Indians  were  greatly  taken  with 
the  bellows ;  they  thought  it  a  marvellous  thing 
indeed. 

As  spring  approached  the  party  prepared 
to    plunge    still    farther    into    the    boundless 


102      SIDE  LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

wilderness.  The  large  boat  could  not  be  taken 
farther,  as  the  river  was  growing  more  rapid; 
it  was  therefore  turned  back  and  headed  for 
St.  Louis.  An  escort  of  several  men,  who 
had  thus  far  accompanied  the  expedition,  re- 
turned with  the  boat  and  took  with  them 
several  boxes  sent  by  Captain  Lewis  to  Presi- 
dent Jefferson.  These  boxes  were  filled  with 
specimens  of  earth,  minerals,  native  imple- 
ments, and  stuffed  birds  and  animals.  The 
two  parties  separated  —  the  one  for  the  haunts 
of  civilization,  the  other  for  the  unknown 
Rocky  Mountain  region  —  on  the  afternoon  of 
April   the  7th,   1805. 

The  expedition  had  now  been  a  year  on  the 
way ;  but  there  were  many  weary  miles  yet 
to  be  traversed.  They  soon  passed  the  mouth 
of  the  Yellowstone,  then  the  Milk  River, 
which  they  so  named  because  of  the  peculiar 
whiteness  of  the  water,  and  on  they  pressed 
toward  the  Rocky  Mountains.  In  this  remote 
region  they  found  wild  animals  in  great 
abundance.  The  country  literally  swarmed 
with  buffalo,  wolves,  bears,  and  coyotes,  prairie 
dogs,  and  many  other  animals.     Captain  Lewis 


THE   LEWIS   AND   CLARKE   EXPEDITION     103 

was  one  day  chased  by  a  wounded  white  beat 
and  narrowly  escaped  destruction. 

On  the  26th  of  May,  Lewis  ascended  a 
hill  and  cast  his  eyes  westward.  He  now 
saw  for  the  first  time  the  crest  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  far  away  in  the  western  horizon. 
The  lofty  summits  seemed  to  penetrate  the 
skies  and  the  captain  was  deeply  moved  with 
the  magnificence  of  the  scene.  He  wrote  in 
his  journal  that  he  "had  got  the  first  glimpse 
of  the  great  Rocky  Mountains,  the  object  of 
all  our  hopes  and  the  reward  of  all  our  ambi- 
tions." 

One  day,  as  the  men  were  walking  over  the 
plain,  they  heard  an  awful  rumbling  in  the  sky, 
and  were  soon  overtaken  by  a  hailstorm,  the 
most  terrific  they  had  ever  seen.  All  the  men 
were  knocked,  bruised  and  bleeding,  to  the 
ground,  Captain  Clarke  narrowly  escaping 
with  his  life. 

On  the  13th  of  June  the  party  reached 
the  Great  Falls  of  the  Missouri.  They  had 
heard  the  mighty  roar  for  several  hours;  now 
they  stood  before  one  of  the  grandest  specta- 
cles of  falling  water  in  the  world.     The  rivet 


104     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

descends  the  mountain  side  about  three  hun 
dred  and  sixty  feet  in  the  course  of  sixteen 
miles.  There  are  four  different  cataracts,  the 
largest  being  a  leap  of  eighty-seven  feet  over 
a  perpendicular  wall.  Between  the  cataracts 
are  rapids  where  the  water  leaps  and  rages 
as  if  possessed  by  evil  spirits.  Far  above  the 
mad,  seething  river  rises  a  cloud  of  rainbow- 
tinted  spray,  which  floats  peacefully  away  over 
the  forest  until  dissolved  into  air  by  the  sun. 

On  to  the  Pacific 

On  reaching  the  great  falls  the  party  were 
obliged  to  carry  their  canoes  for  eighteen 
miles,  when  they  again  made  use  of  the  river. 
After  a  journey  of  one  hundred  and  forty-five 
miles  from  the  falls  they  reach  a  place  where 
the  Missouri  breaks  through  great  mountain 
walls  many  hundred  feet  in  height,  and  they 
call  it  the  "Gates  of  the  Rocky  Mountains." 
They  are  still  four  hundred  miles  from  the 
source  of  the  river,  and  their  journey  con- 
tinues. 

Many  interesting  incidents  occur  as  they 
journey  along.      One  morning  Captain    Lewis 


THE   LEWIS  AND   CLARKE   EXPEDITION     1 05 

awoke  and  found  that  a  huge  rattlesnake  had 
coiled  itself  around  the  tree  beneath  which  he 
had  slept,  where  it  kept  watch  over  him,  but 
did  him  no  harm.  On  one  occasion  the  party 
was  divided  into  two  parts  and  came  near 
losing  each  other  owing  to  the  impudence  of 
a  little  beaver.  One  company  led  by  Lewis 
came  to  the  forks  of  a  small  river,  and  he 
left  a  letter  placed  on  a  pole  for  Clarke, 
directing  him  to  take  the  stream  to  the  left. 
Along  came  the  beaver  and  deliberately  cut 
down  the  pole  with  his  teeth,  and  carried  it 
away,  letter  and  all.  Clarke  took  the  wrong 
branch,  and  it  was  several  days  before  the 
parties  were  reunited. 

The  party  had  with  them  an  Indian  woman 
of  the  Shoshone  tribe,  who  had  been  taken 
captive  by  another  tribe  about  five  years  before 
Being  informed  through  the  interpreter  who 
the  white  men  were  and  whither  going,  she 
was  induced  to  go  with  them  in  the  hope  of 
again  finding  her  own  people.  Captain  Lewis 
was  pleased  with  this,  as  he  hoped  to  make 
friends  with  the  Shoshones  by  bringing  back 
their  lost  one.     While  in  advance  of   the    rest 


106      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN    HISTORY 

one  day  in  August  he  saw,  about  two  miles 
across  the  plain,  a  man  on  horseback,  and  by 
the  aid  of  his  glass  he  saw  that  it  was  an 
Indian  warrior  whom  he  believed  to  be  a 
Shoshone.  Lewis  approached  cautiously,  but 
when  within  a  few  hundred  yards  the  savage 
wheeled  his  horse  and  soon  vanished  in  the 
wilderness. 

For  some  days  they  searched  for  these 
Indians,  their  object  being  to  secure  guides 
and  horses,  for  the  faithful  Missouri  had  at 
last  dwindled  to  a  rivulet,  and  could  guide 
them  and  bear  them  no  longer.  Several  times 
they  sighted  Indians,  but  each  time  they  ran 
like  frightened  deer.  After  several  days' 
search  they  came  suddenly  upon  two  women, 
one  of  whom  escaped,  but  the  other  was 
captured.  She  stood  expecting  instant  death ; 
but  Lewis  soon  convinced  her  that  there  was 
nothing  to  fear,  and  persuaded  her  to  lead  them 
to  her  tribe.  While  on  the  way  they  were 
met  by  sixty  armed  warriors,  coming  to  her 
rescue ;  but  when  she  convinced  them  of  the 
character  of  the  newcomers,  and  when  they 
beheld  the  other  woman,  who  had  been  stolen 


THE   LEWIS   AND   CLARKE   EXPEDITION    107 

from  them  several  years  before,  now  brought 
back  in  safety  by  the  strangers,  their  hostility 
was  changed  to  the  wildest  demonstrations  of 
joy.  They  leaped  from  their  horses  and 
embraced  the  white  men,  besmearing  the 
clothes  and  faces  of  the  latter  with  paint  and 
grease.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  our  party 
had  no  further  trouble  securing  guides  and 
horses. 

The  expedition  had  now  reached  the  water- 
shed which  divides  the  vast  basin  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley  from  the  Pacific  Slope ;  and  one 
can  imagine  a  tiny  drop  of  water  falling  from 
the  clouds  and  being  divided  by  the  upturned 
edge  of  a  leaf,  the  one  half  finding  its  way  to 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  by  way  of  the  Missouri,  the 
Mississippi,  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  the  other 
flowing  into  the  Pacific  by  way  of  the  Columbia 
River.  Here  was  the  great  divide,  the  culmi- 
nation of  the  Rocky  Mountain  system,  the 
birthplace  of  mighty  rivers.  From  this  point 
our  party  must  traverse  the  rugged  mountains 
on  horseback  and  on  foot,  leaving  behind  their 
canoes,  until  they  reach  the  head  waters  of  the 
Columbia,   that  noble  river  of  the  Pacific  Slope, 


108     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

which  had  been  partially  explored  thirteen 
years  before  by  Captain  Grey,  and  to  which 
he  had  given  the  name  of  his  ship — the  Co- 
lumbia. 

We  shall  not  attempt  to  trace  their  further 
course  in  detail,  as  their  experience  was  similar 
to  that  already  given.  The  party  discovered 
many  rivers  and  creeks  to  which  they  gave 
names.  They  evidently  had  no  poet  in  the 
company,  as  the  names  they  conferred  are 
peculiarly  devoid  of  euphonic  beauty.  After 
exhausting  their  vocabulary,  they  conferred  the 
names  of  the  President  and  his  cabinet  on 
rivers.  We  find  the  Jefferson,  the  Madison,  the 
Gallatin,  and  the  Dearborn  rivers.  Then  they 
used  the  names  of  the  men  of  their  own  com- 
pany till  all  were  exhausted.  The  Lewis  River, 
the  Clarke  River,  the  John  Day  River,  are 
found  among  them.  Even  the  negro  servant, 
York,  was  honored  by  having  a  river  called  by 
his  name.  Sometimes  they  gave  such  pedantic 
names  as  Philosophy,  Philanthropy,  and  Inde- 
pendence to  the  rivers.  When  they  discovered 
one  river,  a  large  bear  was  standing  on  the 
bank,  and  they  called  it  Bear  River.      One  day 


THE   LEWIS   AND   CLARKE   EXPEDITION     IOQ 

they  encamped  on  a  bank  of  a  stream  where 
game  was  scarce,  and  they  killed  a  colt  for 
food  ;  they  called  it  the  Coltkilled  River.  Some 
of  these  names  have  been  changed,  but  many 
are  still  retained. 

On  the  28th  of  September  our  explorers 
found  themselves  in  the  presence  of  Mount 
Hood,  rising  to  the  clouds  in  all  its  grandeur 
and  magnificence.  On  they  marched,  pass- 
ing dangerous  shoals  and  rapids  in  the  upper 
Columbia,  and  suffering  many  hardships.  But 
they  were  amply  repaid  with  many  romantic 
scenes  —  cascades  of  marvellous  beauty,  snow- 
capped mountain  ridges  skirted  at  the  base 
with  gigantic  forests,  with  here  and  there  an 
open  space  of  the  most  luxuriant  vegetation, 
now  adorned  with  the  richest  autumnal  hues. 

On  the  morning  of  November  7,  1806,  after 
a  journey  of  a  year  and  a  half  through  the  un- 
broken wilderness,  they  first  saw  the  blue  line 
in  the  western  horizon  that  told  them  that  the 
goal  of  their  wanderings  was  at  hand.  It  was 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  At  last  they  had  reached 
that  boundless  watery  plain  upon  which  Balboa 
had  gazed  with  a  swelling  soul,  through  which 


110     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN    HISTORY 

Magellan  had  ploughed  with  his  hardy  seamen 
until  he  had  belted  the  globe. 

The  Return  to  the  United  States 

The  exploring  party  spent  the  winter  in  log 
cabins  of  their  own  construction,  near  the  mouth 
of  a  river,  and  they  called  the  place  Fort  Clat- 
sop. During  the  winter  they  made  several  ex- 
ploring expeditions,  and  were  visited  by  various 
Indian  tribes.  On  March  23,  1807,  they  began 
their  return  journey.  They  ascended  the  Co- 
lumbia River  in  canoes  to  its  head  waters,  when 
they  crossed  the  mountains  on  horses  secured 
from  the  Indians  whom  they  had  seen  the  year 
before.  Most  of  these  they  found  still  friendly, 
while  others  were  becoming  suspicious  of  the 
white  invaders  of  their  forest  home.  The 
Walla  Wallas  were  so  cordial  that  the  party, 
after  remaining  with  them  some  days,  found  it 
difficult  to  get  leave  to  depart.  Later  they  en- 
countered a  tribe  that  was  disposed  to  be  treach- 
erous, and  Lewis  was  obliged  to  shoot  an  Indian 
to  save  his  own  life. 

The  return  trip  was  covered  more  rapidly 
than   the   advance   had   been,   especially   after 


THE   LEWIS   AND   CLARKE   EXPEDITION     III 

they  reached  the  Missouri,  on  which  they 
floated  with  the  current.  The  expedition 
reached  St.  Louis,  September  23,  1807,  hav- 
ing traversed  nine  thousand  miles  of  unexplored 
wilderness  in  two  and  a  half  years.  They  had 
experienced  but  few  accidents,  and  had  lost  but 
one  man.  Their  journal  was  published  a  few 
years  later,  and  it  conveyed  much  important 
information  concerning  the  Great  West.  Con- 
gress made  grants  of  land  to  each  member,  of  the 
party,  besides  a  soldier's  pay  for  the  time  spent. 
Captain  Lewis  became  governor  of  Louisiana 
Territory,  and  Clarke  a  general  of  militia,  after- 
ward governor  of  Missouri.  Two  years  later 
Lewis  was  attacked  by  a  hereditary  disease, 
and,  in  a  temporary  season  of  insanity,  took 
his  own  life.  Clarke's  negro  servant,  York, 
now  took  Lewis's  name,  and  called  himself 
Captain  Lewis  to  the  end  of  his  life,  dying  some 
years  ago  in  Virginia  at  the  great  age  of  ninety 
years. 

An  Indian  Story 

A  member  of  the  Lewis  and  Clarke  expedi- 
tion named  John  Colter,  while  on  the  return 


112     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

trip,  asked  and  was  granted  leave  to  remain  in 
the  wilderness  as  a  hunter  and  trapper.  He 
associated  himself  with  a  trapper  named  Potts, 
and  the  two  were  soon  busy  capturing  fur-bear- 
ing animals.  They  were  in  the  heart  of  the 
Blackfoot  Indian  country,  and  these  savages 
were  known  to  be  hostile  at  the  time. 

One  day  as  Colter  and  Potts  were  sitting  in 
their  canoe  on  the  edge  of  a  small  stream  they 
heard,  from  behind  a  neighboring  hill,  the 
tramp  of  innumerable  feet.  At  first  they 
feared  that  it  was  Indians;  then  they  thought 
it  was  a  herd  of  buffalo.  In  a  few  minutes 
their  worst  fears  were  realized.  Six  hundred 
savage  warriors  swarmed  around  the  hill,  and 
the  two  trappers  were  unable  to  escape.  Potts 
raised  his  rifle,  shot  down  the  foremost  Indian, 
and  his  body  was  instantly  pierced  by  a  score 
of  arrows.  The  canoe  floated  away,  bearing 
his  dead  body.     Colter  was  taken  captive. 

The  savages  had  no  thought  of  sparing 
Colter's  life,  but  they  decided  to  toy  with 
him,  as  a  kitten  toys  with  a  mouse  before 
killing  it  —  but  sometimes  the  mouse  finds  a 
hole   and   escapes.      Colter  was  first   stripped 


THE  LEWIS  AND   CLARKE   EXPEDITION     113 

to  the  skin,  not  a  shred  of  clothes  being  left 
on  his  body.  He  was  then  asked  if  he  were  a 
good  runner,  and  he  answered  that  he  was  not. 
The  chief  then  took  him  about  three  hundred 
yards  from  the  body  of  Indians,  let  him  go,  and 
said,  "  Now  save  your  life,  if  you  can." 

At  that  instant  the  six  hundred  savages,  with 
a  terrible  war-whoop,  started  in  pursuit.  Colter 
darted  away  with  a  speed  that  surprised  him- 
self as  well  as  his  pursuers.  There  was  a  plain 
before  him  six  miles  wide,  bounded  on  the  far- 
ther side  by  a  river  fringed  with  trees.  Colter 
made  for  this  stream,  and  the  unearthly,  demon- 
like yells  of  the  on-rushing  savages  seemed  to 
lend  him  wings.  The  plain  was  covered  with 
prickly  pears,  and,  being  without  moccasins,  his 
feet  were  lacerated  at  every  stride.  He  ran 
about  three  miles  before  looking  back ;  then, 
glancing  over  his  shoulder,  he  saw  that  all  but 
a  few  were  left  far  behind.  One  huge  warrior, 
however,  armed  with  a  spear,  was  but  two  hun- 
dred yards  away  and  gaining.  Colter  doubled 
the  effort,  and  so  great  was  his  exertion  that  the 
blood  gushed  from  his  nostrils  and  flowed  down 
over  his  breast.     When  within  a  mile  of  the 


114     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

river,  he  glanced  back  again  and  saw  that  his 
pursuer  was  but  few  paces  away,  and  was  al- 
most in  the  act  of  throwing  his  spear. 

Colter,  moved  by  a  sudden  impulse,  stopped 
and  faced  the  savage,  spreading  out  his  arms, 
and  thus  stood  in  the  form  of  a  cross.  The 
Indian  was  so  surprised  at  this  unexpected 
movement  and  at  the  bloody  appearance  of  the 
white  man's  body,  that  he  stumbled  and  fell  to 
the  ground.  Colter  ran  back,  seized  the  spear, 
ran  it  through  his  antagonist's  body,  pinning 
him  to  the  earth,  and  renewed  his  flight. 

The  pursuing  savages  halted  a  few  seconds 
over  the  dead  body  of  their  comrade,  thus 
giving  Colter  an  increased  advantage.  Now 
they  again  resumed  the  pursuit  with  more 
fiendish  yells  than  before.  But  Colter  was 
nearing  the  river,  and  was  soon  hidden  by  the 
trees.  The  next  moment  he  plunged  beneath 
the  waves.  In  the  middle  of  the  river,  lodged 
against  an  island,  was  a  large  raft  of  drift- 
wood. Beneath  this  our  hero  dived,  and  stuck 
his  head  up  between  two  logs  covered  with 
smaller  timbers  and  brush.  The  Indians  came 
up  and  searched  for  several   hours,  but  failed 


THE   LEWIS   AND   CLARKE   EXPEDITION     115 

to  find  him.  Again  and  again  he  could  see 
them  walking  above  him  over  the  driftwood. 
He  was  terribly  afraid  they  would  set  fire  to 
it,  but  they  did  not. 

At  nightfall  the  savages  left,  and  Colter 
swam  out  and  was  soon  speeding  through  the 
forest.  After  travelling  for  seven  days,  utterly 
unclothed,  and  with  nothing  to  eat  but  roots, 
he  reached  a  trading-post  on  the  Big  Horn 
River.  It  was  several  months  before  he  fully 
recovered  from  his  terrible  experience. 


CHAPTER  VII 
Conspiracy  of  Aaron  Burr 

The  world  is  inclined  to  go  to  extremes  in 
placing  its  stamp  of  value  on  the  most  con- 
spicuous public  characters.  It  is  true,  there 
is  a  great  middle  class  of  prominent  men  who 
are  rated,  after  they  are  gone,  at  something 
near  their  real  worth ;  but  the  people  must 
have  their  hero,  their  demigod,  their  type  of 
all  perfection ;  they  must  also  have  their  mon- 
strosity, their  type  of  all  villany.  From  the 
same  trait  of  human  nature  that  tends  to 
adore  too  much,  springs  the  tendency  to  de- 
spise too  much.  The  drama  must  have  its 
hero  and  its  villain,  and  if  either  falls  below 
perfection  in  his  role,  the  imagination  sup- 
plies the  deficiency. 

Some  of  the  greatest  characters  in  history 
were  not  so  great  nor  so  perfect  in  real  life 
as  posterity  has  made  them ;  and  it  is  cer- 
116 


CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON  BURR      117 

tain  that  some  of  the  villains  of  history  were 
not  so  monstrous  as  they  have  been  pictured. 
History  in  the  abstract  is  truth,  because  it  pic- 
tures human  nature  as  it  really  was  and  is; 
but  it  is  not  always  true  in  the  concrete ;  it 
overdraws  some  characters  at  the  expense  of 
others. 

Aaron  Burr 

This  chapter  is  not  intended  to  be  a  defence 
of  the  character  with  whom  it  deals,  but  the 
author  wishes  to  state  his  belief  at  the  out- 
start  that  Aaron  Burr  has  been  judged  too 
severely  by  the  American  people;  that  he 
was  not  so  deep-dyed  a  villain  as  is  generally 
supposed.  It  is  true  that  he  slew  the  great 
Hamilton  in  a  duel;  but  duels  were  com- 
mon in  those  days,  and  he  who  accepted  a 
challenge  was  scarcely  less  blamable  than  he 
who  gave  it.  It  is  true,  or  is  supposed  to  be 
true,  that  he  aimed  to  sever  the  Union  and 
to  set  up  a  Western  Empire  with  himself  at 
the  head.  But  let  it  be  remembered  that  in 
those  days  there  was  a  general  belief  that 
the    East   and  West  would   eventually  become 


Il8     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

separate  nations ;  that  so  unlike  were  their  in- 
terests, and  so  great  their  distance  apart,  as  to 
render  their  continuance  in  the  same  house- 
hold impossible;  and  that  it  is  still  believed 
that  but  for  the  railway  and  the  telegraph, 
which  have  brought  us  so  near  together  as 
a  people,  the  ultimate  separation  of  the  East 
and  the  West  would  have  been  inevitable. 

Nevertheless,  Burr  was  a  bad  character; 
his  ambition  was  not  that  of  the  patriot,  but  of 
the  self-seeker;  his  killing  of  Hamilton  was 
little  short  of  murder,  as  he  knew  that  his 
skill  with  the  pistol  far  exceeded  that  of  his 
antagonist,  and  he  was  fully  determined  to 
end  the  career  of  the  latter.  But  he  had  his 
redeeming  traits.  He  was  a  great  lover  of 
children ;  his  perennial  exuberance  of  spirits 
under  the  most  crushing  trials  excites  our  high- 
est admiration  ;  his  devotion  to  his  daughter 
was    strangely  beautiful. 

Aaron  Burr  was  a  descendant  of  the  great 
New  England  divine  of  colonial  days,  Jona- 
than Edwards.  Scarcely  more  than  a  boy 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  he  flung 
himself  into  the  midst  of  the  fray,  and  proved 


CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON   BURR  119 

to  be  one  of  the  bravest  of  the  brave.  He 
afterward  entered  the  legal  profession  and 
became  one  of  the  keenest  and  most  success- 
ful lawyers  in  America.  He  entered  politics 
and  rose  until  he  became  a  senator,  then  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States.  His  wife  had 
died  and  left  him  a  little  daughter  named 
Theodosia,  a  beautiful  girl  of  the  rarest  men- 
tal gifts,  who,  while  yet  a  child,  presided  over 
her  father's  luxuriant  home  with  the  grace 
of  a  princess.  The  father  adored  his  charm- 
ing daughter,  and  lavished  upon  her  every 
luxury  that  wealth  could  bestow;  but  she  did 
not  become  a  spoiled  child;  her  good  sense 
was  of  the  highest  grade,  and  her  devotion 
to  her  father  was  something  wonderful. 

But  an  evil  day  came,  and  the  happiness 
of  the  family  became  forever  blighted.  The 
misfortune  began  with  the  death  of  Hamilton. 
It  had  been  coming,  it  is  true,  for  some  time 
before.  Hamilton  was  but  one  of  the  power- 
ful politicians  who  had  combined  to  break 
the  political  fortunes  in  New  York  and  in  the 
nation  of  Aaron  Burr.  They  succeeded,  and 
in   the   spring    of     1804    Burr    found    himseU 


120     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

politically  and  financially  ruined.  Up  to  that 
time  he  had  been  a  political  aspirant  not  unlike 
others  of  his  station.  His  private  life  was 
not  pure,  but  it  was  no  worse  than  that  of 
many  others  of  his  own  class.  Had  he  been 
elected  President  of  the  United  States  in  1801, 
when  he  came  so  near  the  prize,  he  would 
doubtless  now  be  classed  among  the  honored 
fathers.  Had  he  borne  his  later  defeat  in 
New  York  in  silence,  as  many  a  man  has  borne 
equal  disappointments,  his  name  would  not 
now  be  covered  with  odium. 

But  Burr  was  a  vindictive  man.  He  brooded 
over  his  downfall.  He  thought  Hamilton  the 
chief  cause  of  it,  and  determined  to  rid  him- 
self of  his  great  rival.  He  challenged  him  to 
a  duel.  The  false  code  of  honor  of  that  day 
was  such  that  one  could  not  refuse  such  a 
challenge  without  being  branded  as  a  coward, 
and  Hamilton  had  not  the  moral  courage  to 
defy  public  opinion,  and  refuse  to  fight  a  duel. 
He  accepted  the  challenge.  They  met  at 
Weehawken,  on  the  New  Jersey  shore  of  the 
Hudson,  on  July  11,  1804.  Hamilton  fell  at 
the   first    fire,    mortally   wounded.       In   a   few 


CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON  BURR  121 

hours  he  was  dead.  Burr  had  legally  slain 
his  enemy.  He  may  have  experienced  a  mo- 
mentary thrill  of  joy  at  the  result.  The  truth 
may  not  at  that  moment  have  entered  his 
brain  that  his  fatal  bullet  had  added  a  lustre 
for  all  time  to  the  name  of  his  fallen  victim, 
and  had  covered  his  own  with  indelible  dis- 
honor. 

If  ever  there  was  a  man  who  received  due 
punishment  in  this  life  for  his  wrong-doing, 
it  was  Aaron  Burr.  From  this  day  forth  his 
every  project  was  marked  with  failure.  He 
lived  to  be  old,  and  through  all  his  subse- 
quent years,  misfortune  pursued  him,  like  the 
Nemesis  of  evil,  with  unrelenting  severity. 

Scarcely  had  the  breath  left  Hamilton's 
body,  when  public  feeling  in  New  York,  re- 
gardless of  party,  was  roused  against  his 
slayer.  Burr,  to  escape  the  popular  indigna 
tion,  quietly  left  the  city  for  Philadelphia,  but 
here  he  found  the  same  state  of  feeling  against 
him,  and  he  fled  to  the  South,  where  he  re- 
mained for  several  months.  When  the  excite- 
ment had  somewhat  abated,  he  returned  north- 
ward, and  spent  the  winter  in  Washington  and 


122,      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Philadelphia;  but  the  public  feeling  was  still 
such  that  he  thought  best  not  to  remain,  and 
he  decided  on  making  a  tour  of  the  West. 

At  that  time  a  tide  of  emigration  was  pour- 
ing into  the  Mississippi  Valley,  new  States 
were  being  carved  out  of  the  wilderness,  and 
new  cities  were  growing  up  in  many  places. 

Burr  determined  to  go  westward,  but  what 
his  ultimate  intentions  were  no  one  seemed 
to  surmise.  His  friends  .  proposed  (for  he 
still  had  friends)  that  he  settle  in  some  rising 
Western  city,  and  get  himself  elected  to  Con- 
gress. This  would  no  doubt  have  been  easy 
to  do,  for  very  few  men  of  his  mental  caliber 
could  be  found  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  and 
he  was  still  popular  in  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
Had  he  chosen  such  a  course,  he  could  have  in 
a  great  measure  lived  down  the  odium  arising 
from  the  duel,  but  he  was  too  ambitious  for 
such  a  quiet  life.  This  plan,  it  was  afterward 
believed,  was  intended  only  to  hide  his  real 
designs. 

He  left  Philadelphia  in  April,  1805;  in  nine- 
teen days  he  had  reached  Pittsburg,  and  was 
soon   floating   down   the   Ohio.     The   Ohio    is 


CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON   BURR  1 23 

one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  rivers.  For  hun- 
dreds of  miles  it  coils  itself  among  the  hills, 
which  often  rise  in  rocky  steeps  from  the 
water's  edge,  skirted  along  the  base  and 
crowned  at  the  top  with  primeval  forest.  On- 
ward the  little  party  proceed  until  they  reach 
Marietta,  that  quaint  old  town  that  had  been 
founded  seventeen  years  before  by  Rufus  Put- 
nam, the  "  Father  of  Ohio,"  and  named  in 
honor  of  the  unfortunate  queen  of  France. 
Here  they  alight  and  inspect  those  strange 
mounds,  the  relics  of  an  unknown  race,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum. 

A  few  miles  below  Marietta  there  is  an 
island  in  the  river  that  was  soon  to  become 
famous,  and  was  to  be  known  henceforth  as 
the  Blennerhassett  Island.  It  lies  low  in  the 
river,  is  about  three  miles  long  and  quite  nar- 
row. On  this  island  Harman  Blennerhassett, 
an  eccentric,  romantic  Irishman,  with  an 
equally  romantic  wife,  had  made  his  home. 
He  had  been  a  barrister  in  his  own  country, 
had  inherited  a  snug  fortune,  and  brought  it, 
with  his  wife,  to  America.  Their  thirst  for 
the  novel  and  the  romantic  had  led  them  to 


124     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

penetrate  the  western  wilderness,  and  to  locate 
on  this  island,  where  they  built  a  curious 
house,  modelled  after  some  of  the  ancient 
structures  of  the  Old  World.  Here  they  lived 
in  apparent  contentment  for  several  years. 

Leaving  Marietta,  Burr  came  to  this  island, 
and  having  heard  of  the  eccentric  foreigner 
who  dwelled  there,  made  a  landing  out  of 
mere  curiosity.  Hearing  that  the  proprietor 
was  absent,  he  did  not  go  to  the  house,  but 
strolled  about  the  grounds,  when  Mrs.  Blenner- 
hassett  sent  a  servant  to  invite  the  strangers 
to  the  house.  Burr  sent  his  card  with  a  polite 
refusal ;  but,  when  the  lady  saw  his  name,  she 
came  out  and  gave  him  a  pressing  invitation 
to  remain  to  dinner.  He  now  consented,  and 
the  party  spent  several  hours  in  pleasant  con- 
versation, when  they  reembarked  and  pro- 
ceeded to  Cincinnati.  After  a  few  days'  stay 
at  this  growing  village,  Burr  descended  the 
river  to  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  where  Louis- 
ville now  stands.  At  this  point  he  left  the 
river,  and  made  an  overland  journey  through 
the  wilderness  to  Nashville.  A  travelling 
showman   had   lately  been    at   Nashville,   and 


CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON   BURR  1 25 

had  exhibited  a  wax  figure  of  Burr  "as  he 
appeared  when  he  slew  the  leviathan  of  Fed- 
eralism under  the  heights  of  Weehawken."1 
Burr  received  high  honors  at  Nashville,  where 
he  remained  for  some  days  at  the  home  of 
Andrew  Jackson. 

The  Great  Conspiracy 

Burr's  plans  had  now  taken  shape  in  his 
own  mind.  There  was  continuous  friction  be- 
tween the  Americans  and  Spaniards  in  the 
Southwest,  and  Burr  gave  out  that  he  in- 
tended to  conduct  a  military  expedition  against 
Mexico,  which  then  belonged  to  Spain.  But 
an  inner  circle  knew  that  his  designs  were 
still  deeper,  that  his  aim  was  to  raise  a  re- 
volt in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  to  sever  it 
from  the  Union,  and  to  establish  an  inde- 
pendent nation.  This  Burr  had  suggested  to 
the  English  Minister,  Mr.  Merry,  before 
leaving  Philadelphia.  At  Cincinnati  he  had 
met  and  conferred  with  Mr.  Dayton,  former 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 
with  ex-Senator  John  Smith  of  Ohio,  both  of 

1McMaster,  Vol.  III.  p.  57. 


126     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

whom  were  afterward  found  to  be  in  his  plot. 
Some  have  even  named  Andrew  Jackson  as 
one  of  the  conspirators,  but  there  is  no  proof 
of  this ;  and  Jackson's  unswerving  patriotism 
before  and  after  this  period  was  such  as  to 
make  this  accusation  difficult  to  believe. 

Burr  went  down  the  Cumberland  from  Nash- 
ville. On  reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio, 
he  met  the  man  who  was  to  be  his  confed- 
erate, and  afterward  his  betrayer  —  General 
James  Wilkinson.  Wilkinson  was  commander 
of  the  armies  of  the  United  States  and  gov- 
ernor of  Louisiana  at  the  time.  He  was  a 
man  of  ambition  no  less  sordid  than  that  of 
Burr.  The  two  had  long  been  acquainted; 
they  had  fought  together  under  the  walls  of 
Quebec  in  the  Revolution,  and  had  corres- 
ponded with  each  other  for  many  years.  Burr 
now  took  Wilkinson  into  his  plot,  and  the  two 
men  spent  four  days  together,  laying  their 
schemes  for  the  future.  Wilkinson  then  fitted 
Burr  out  in  a  fine  boat  in  which  he  proceeded 
to  New  Orleans,  where  he  arrived  on  June 
25,  1805,  armed  with  a  letter  from  Wilkinson 
to  Daniel  Clark,  the  richest  man  in  the  city. 


CONSPIRACY   OF  AARON   BURR  1 27 

For  two  weeks  Burr  was  lionized  in  New 
Orleans,  and  his  proposed  expedition  to  Mex- 
ico, no  longer  a  secret,  was  talked  of  on  all 
sides.  Returning  up  the  river,  Burr  again 
met  with  Wilkinson,  but  found  the  ardor  of 
that  gentleman  somewhat  cooled.  The  fact 
is,  Wilkinson  had  sounded  his  subordinate  offi- 
cers on  the  subject  of  dismembering  the  Union, 
and  had  received  so  little  encouragement  that 
his  enthusiasm  had  greatly  subsided. 

Late  in  the  fall  Burr  returned  to  Washing- 
ton. He  had  counted  much  on  receiving  aid 
from  England,  believing  that  country  ready 
to  engage  in  any  project  that  would  retard  the 
growth  of  the  United  States.  Hastening  to 
the  house  of  the  British  Minister,  Burr  was 
greatly  dismayed  when  that  gentlemfci  in- 
formed him  that  no  assistance  from  that  quar- 
ter could  be  expected.  But  the  will  of  Burr 
was  indomitable.  During  the  few  months  he 
spent  in  the  East  his  efforts  were  prodigious. 
He  sought  out  his  old  friends,  army  and  navy 
officials,  men  of  wealth,  and  every  one  who 
had  a  grievance  against  the  Government,  and 
attempted   to   bring   them   into   his   plot.      By 


128     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

one  of  these,  General  Eaton,  he  was  betrayed 
to  President  Jefferson,  but  Jefferson  was  slow 
to  believe  that  there  was  any  real  danger,  and 
made  no  attempt  to  apprehend  the  conspira- 
tors. Burr  stated  to  a  friend  that  the  Govern- 
ment was  in  such  an  imbecile  condition  that 
with  two  hundred  men  he  could  drive  the 
President  and  Congress  into  the  Potomac. 

In  August,  1806,  Burr  again  started  west- 
ward, taking  with  him  this  time  his  daughter 
Theodosia,  who  was  now  the  wife  of  Joseph 
Alston,  the  governor  of  South  Carolina,  reputed 
to  be  the  richest  planter  in  the  South.  They 
soon  reached  Blennerhassett  Island,  and  the 
occupants  were  completely  captivated  by  the 
wit  and  the  vivacity  of  the  charming  Theodosia, 
who  fully  believed  that  her  father's  schemes 
were  legitimate  and  honorable.  From  this 
time  the  Blennerhassetts  were  the  most  de- 
voted adherents  of  the  conspirator. 

This  credulous  Irishman  was  led  to  believe 
that  all  their  projects  were  about  to  be  real- 
ized. A  great  nation  was  to  be  founded  in 
the  West.  Burr  was  to  be  the  monarch  as 
Aaron    I.,  Mrs.    Alston  was  to   be   the  queen, 


CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON  BURR  I2Q 

and  her  little  son  heir  apparent  to  the  throne. 
But  this  was  not  all;  Blennerhassett  should 
represent  the  new  nation  at  the  court  of  St. 
James,  and  Wilkinson  should  command  its 
armies.  This  was  the  vision  presented  to  the 
simple-minded  Blennerhassett,  and  he  chat- 
tered it  all  around  the  country. 

Leaving  his  daughter  on  the  island,  Burr 
went  down  the  river  to  Cincinnati,  and  across 
to  Nashville.  All  was  now  haste  and  activity. 
Fifteen  boats  were  being  built  at  Marietta, 
several  more  on  the  Cumberland.  Provisions 
were  purchased  and  men  were  arming  on  all 
sides  and  making  ready  for  the  expedition, 
most  of  whom  still  believed  that  the  sole  ob- 
ject was  the  conquest  of  Mexico.  Burr  was 
the  general  manager  of  everything.  We  find 
him  first  in  one  town  and  then  in  another,  dis- 
playing the  most  remarkable  energy. 

But  he  had  enemies  here  and  there.  At 
Frankfort,  Kentucky,  he  was  tried  in  a  United 
States  court  for  treason,  but  was  acquitted. 
One  of  his  counsel  in  this  trial  was  a  young 
man  whose  after  career  made  him  a  name  that 
the  Nation  still  delights  to  honor  —  Henry  Clay. 


130     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Burr  again  went  to  Nashville,  and  a  great 
ball  was  given  in  his  honor.  His  hopes  were 
now  at  their  highest  point.  He  was  soon  to 
become  a  conquering  hero  —  one  who  would 
draw  the  eyes  of  the  world  —  the  founder  of 
an  empire  —  when  lo  !  a  thunderbolt  came,  and 
his  whole  scheme  from  the  top  to  the  bottom 
was  shattered  and  annihilated.  The  bolt  came 
in  the  form  of  a  proclamation  from  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States. 

The  Arrest  and  the   Trial 

President  Jefferson  had  at  last  been  awak- 
ened from  his  lethargy  and  led  to  believe  that 
there  was  some  real  danger  of  an  uprising  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley.  Hence  the  proclama- 
tion, issued  in  November,  1806,  which  was 
called  forth  by  a  letter  from  General  Wilkin- 
son, betraying  Burr's  entire  plot  to  the  Presi- 
dent. When  this  proclamation  was  known  in 
the  West,  it  was  no  longer  possible  for  Burr 
to  proceed,  because  many  of  his  followers  had 
been  made  to  believe  that  Jefferson  knew  of 
and  favored  the  expedition ;  when  they  found 
that  this  was  not  true,  they  refused   to  follow 


CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON  BURR      131 

their  leader  further.  The  President  in  his 
proclamation  did  not  mention  Burr  by  name, 
nor  make  any  reference  to  the  plan  of  sever- 
ing the  Union.  He  simply  stated  that  there 
was  reason  to  believe  that  an  unauthorized 
expedition  against  Mexico  was  about  to  be 
made,  and  he  called  upon  all  United  States 
officers  to  immediately  arrest  all  persons  en- 
gaged in  it. 

Wilkinson,  now  in  New  Orleans,  in  order 
to  clear  his  own  name,  made  a  desperate  effort 
to  pose  as  the  saviour  of  his  country.  He 
made  the  people  believe  that  a  fleet  was  about 
to  come  down  the  Mississippi  to  capture  the 
city.  He  harangued  the  excited  multitude  at 
a  public  meeting ;  he  made  many  arrests  of 
suspected  persons,  and  put  the  city  under  mar- 
tial law.  In  short,  this  mighty  (but  it  should 
be  spelled  mitey)  commander  of  the  army 
blustered  and  fumed  about  at  a  great  rate. 
But  it ,  was  all  unnecessary.  There  was  no 
armed  force  coming  down  the  river,  and  Wil- 
kinson probably  knew  it.  He  simply  wished 
to  make  a  loud  noise,  a  patriotic  noise,  so  as 
to  cover  his  own  false  trail  of  the  past. 


132     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

Aaron  Burr  at  this  time  was  floating  down 
the  Mississippi  with  a  few  friends,  hoping  to 
escape  arrest  till  he  reached  the  sea,  when  he 
would  embark  for  a  foreign  land.  None  knew 
better  than  himself  that  Jefferson's  note  of 
warning  to  the  people  had  utterly  blasted  his 
prospects.  None  knew  better  than  he  that,  if 
arrested,  he  would  have  to  contend  against  an 
angered  administration,  supported  by  the 
enemies  he  had  made  in  the  killing  of  Hamil- 
ton. As  he  proceeded  down  the  river  he  was 
astonished  and  dismayed  to  find  that  his  col- 
league, Wilkinson,  had  betrayed  him.  A  short 
distance  above  Natchez,  Mississippi,  Burr 
landed  on  the  east  bank  of  the  river,  and,  dis- 
guising himself  in  the  dress  of  a  river  boatman, 
he  bade  his  companions  good-by  and  disappeared 
in  the  wilderness. 

One  cold  night  in  February,  1807,  two  young 
lawyers  were  playing  at  cards  in  a  cabin  near 
the  village  of  Wakefield,  Alabama,  when  two 
strangers  rode  up  and  inquired  the  way  to 
Colonel  Hinson's.  Being  informed  that  the 
colonel  lived  seven  miles  farther  on,  the 
strangers    departed.       One    of    them,    it    was 


CONSPIRACY   OF  AARON   BURR  1 33 

readily  seen,  was  a  country  guide;  the  other 
seemed  to  be  a  different  sort  of  personage. 
He  was  dressed  in  a  rude  homespun  suit,  but 
his  intellectual  countenance,  his  flashing,  bright 
eyes,  and  his  elegantly  shaped  boots,  protruding 
from  the  coarse,  ill-cut  trousers,  attracted  the 
attention  of  one  of  the  young  men,  whose  name 
was  Perkins. 

Soon  after  the  strangers  had  gone,  Perkins 
said  to  his  companion,  "  That  is  Aaron  Burr ; 
let  us  follow  and  arrest  him."  1 

The  other  ridiculed  the  idea  and  refused  to 
make  any  move  toward  making  the  arrest.  But 
Perkins  was  determined ;  he  at  once  apprised 
the  sheriff,  and  in  a  short  time  he  and  the 
sheriff  were  riding  through  the  darkness 
toward  Colonel  Hinson's. 

Arriving  near  the  place,  Perkins  remained 
outside  with  the  horses  while  the  sheriff  went 
in  to  make  the  arrest.  He  met  the  polite 
stranger,  and  was  soon  fascinated  with  his 
brilliant  conversation.  For  some  hours  the 
company  conversed,  and  this  stranger  was  the 
life  of  the  party.     The  sheriff  had  not  a  doubt 

1  Parton's  "  Life  of  Aaron  Burr,"  Vol.  II.  p.  93. 


134     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

that  it  was  Burr,  but  his  heart  failed  him; 
he  could  not  arrest  so  elegant  a  gentleman. 
He  remained  over  night,  and  next  morning 
actually  accompanied  Burr  some  distance  as 
guide. 

We  have  all  heard  of  Marshal  Ney,  the 
French  general  — -  how  he  was  sent  to  capture 
Napoleon  returning  from  Elba ;  and  how  the 
wonderful  magnetism  of  his  old  commander 
fascinated,  won,  captured  him.  He  went  to 
arrest  the  fallen  Emperor;  he  came  back  his 
friend  and  ally. 

Similarly  did  Colonel  Aaron  Burr  captivate 
the  sheriff  of  Washington  County,  Alabama. 

Perkins  waited  for  several  hours  with  the 
horses.  Suspecting  at  last  that  his  friend  had 
fallen  a  prey  to  the  blandishments  of  Burr,  he 
returned  home.  But  Perkins  was  not  to  be 
thwarted  so  easily.  He  immediately  went  to 
Fort  Stoddard  and  apprised  Captain  Gaines, 
and  in  less  than -twenty-four  hours  Burr  was  a 
prisoner  in  the  fort.  After  being  detained  here 
for  three  weeks,  the  distinguished  prisoner  was 
taken  northward  for  trial. 

The   distance   was   near   a    thousand    miles, 


CONSPIRACY   OF   AARON    BURR  1 35 

about  half  of  which  was  a  dense  forest.  The 
guard  consisted  of  nine  mounted  men,  com- 
manded by  the  plucky  Perkins,  who,  remember- 
ing his  experience  with  the  sheriff,  took  his 
men  aside  and  made  them  promise  to  steel  their 
souls  against  the  winning  arts  of  the  prisoner. 
The  long,  fatiguing  march  began,  the  party 
usually  spending  the  nights  in  the  open  air. 
They  spent  one  night  at  a  small  tavern  in 
northern  Georgia.  The  landlord,  not  knowing 
the  character  of  his  guests,  began  to  converse 
on  the  subject  that  absorbed  the  attention  in 
every  part  of  the  Union.  "  Had  they  heard 
anything  of  Aaron  Burr  the  traitor?  was  he 
captured  ?  was  he  not  a  very  bad  man  ?  "  Burr, 
who  was  sitting  in  the  corner,  raised  his  head, 
and,  fixing  his  blazing  eyes  on  the  landlord, 
said,  "I  am  Aaron  Burr  —  what  do  you  want 
with  me  ? " 

The  journey  was  very  monotonous,  but  for 
one  thrilling  incident.  As  they  were  passing 
through  Chester,  South  Carolina,  where  Burr 
knew  that  he  was  popular,  he  suddenly  leaped 
from  his  horse,  and,  appealing  to  the  people 
along   the  streets,  shouted  in  a  loud  voice :  — 


136      SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

"  I  am  Aaron  Burr  under  military  arrest,  and 
claim  the  protection  of  the  civil  authorities." 

The  next  instant  Perkins  stood  before  him 
with  two  drawn  pistols  and  ordered  him  to 
remount. 

Burr  answered  defiantly,  "  /  will  not." 

Perkins  was  unwilling  to  shed  blood.  He 
was  a  powerful  man.  He  threw  his  pistols  to 
the  ground,  seized  his  prisoner,  and  hurled 
him  into  the  saddle.  Before  the  spectators  had 
recovered  from  their  astonishment  the  party 
had  left  the  village  behind.1  Aaron  Burr  was  a 
man  of  wonderful  nerve,  but  for  once  he  lost  his 
self-control ;  he  was  unmanned  ;  he  wept  like 
a  child.  It  is  said  that  in  all  his  sufferings, 
and  they  were  great,  this  strange  man  did  not 
again  exhibit  weakness. 

The  party  was  directed  to  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia, where  the  trial  was  to  take  place.  Here 
they  arrived  the  26th  of  March,  1807.  It 
would  make  our  chapter  too  long  were  we 
to  give  a  history  of  this  trial.  Let  a  few 
general  statements  suffice. 

The  trial  of  this  ex-Vice-President  for  treason 

1  Parton,  Vol.  II.  p.  101. 


CONSPIRACY  OF   AARON    BURR  1 37 

is  the  most  famous  trial  in  all  American  history 
save  one  —  that  of  Andrew  Johnson.  It  was 
presided  over  by  John  Marshal,  the  Chief-Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  the  greatest  jurist 
this  country  has  produced.  Both  sides  enjoyed 
counsel  of  the  greatest  ability  ;  the  most  noted 
on  Burr's  side  was  Luther  Martin  of  Baltimore, 
a  framer  of  the  Constitution  ;  the  ablest  on  the 
opposite  side  was  William  Wirt,  afterward  for 
twelve  years  Attorney-General  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  Anti-Mason  candidate  for 
President  in   1832. 

The  trial  was  long  and  exciting,  the  jury 
finally  acquitting  the  prisoner  for  want  of 
evidence,  to  the  great  disappointment  of  Presi- 
dent Jefferson.  Burr  was  guilty  beyond  a 
doubt ;  but  the  Constitution  provides  that 
treason  "  shall  consist  only  in  levying  war 
against"  the  United  States,  or  in  "adhering  to 
their  enemies,"  and  that  "no  person  shall  be 
convicted  of  treason  unless  on  the  testimony 
of  two  witnesses  to  the  overt  act."  No  such 
thing  could  be  proved  against  Burr.  He  was  a 
great  lawyer,  and  he  had  covered  his  trail  and 
managed  his  plot  with  such  skill  that  the  law 


138      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

had  no  hold  on  him.  He  was  therefore  set  at 
liberty.  He  and  Blennerhassett  were  then 
indicted  for  misdemeanor,  to  be  tried  later  in 
Ohio,  but  the  trial  never  came  off. 

Theodosia 

In  the  history  of  Aaron  Burr  there  is  one 
chapter  that  presents  a  charm  of  more  than 
ordinary  attraction  —  that  which  tells  of  the 
relation  between  him  and  his  daughter.  Theo- 
dosia was  a  queenly  woman,  of  high  mental 
gifts,  and  beyond  all  doubt  of  the  purest  and  no- 
blest type.  She  believed  her  father  the  most 
perfect  of  men,  and  never  in  her  life  seemed 
to  doubt  that  his  motives  were  the  best. 

When  she  heard  of  her  father's  arrest,  she 
was  overcome  with  sorrow.  She  hastened  to 
Richmond,  and  remained  during  the  trial. 
Every  one  had  heard  of  Theodosia,  and  every 
one  was  charmed  who  came  within  her  in- 
fluence. She  followed  the  trial  with  the  keen- 
ness of  a  trained  lawyer.  When  the  acquittal 
was  announced,  her  joy  was  unbounded.  Little 
did  she  know  that  her  grief  had  just  begun  — 
that  one  burden  of   sorrow  would   bear   down 


CONSPIRACY   OF   AARON   BURR  1 39 

upon  another  until  the  weight  would  be  greater 
than  she  could  endure. 

Burr  was  acquitted  by  the  jury,  but  not  by 
the  American  people ;  he  was  detested  as  a 
traitor  on  every  side.  He  went  to  Baltimore 
and  spent  several  days  with  a  friend,  when 
it  was  discovered  that  a  mob  was  forming  to 
do  him  injury,  but  he  escaped  from  the  city 
by  night.  He  spent  the  following  winter  in 
hiding  in  various  places,  hoping  that  popular 
clamor  would  subside,  but  it  did  not.  In  June, 
1808,  he  escaped  from  New  York  under  an 
assumed  name  and  took  ship  for  England. 
After  spending  several  months  in  England, 
he  was  banished  from  that  country  as  a 
dangerous  person.  He  next  went  to  Sweden, 
then  to  Germany,  and  finally  to  Paris.  The 
French  Government  was  suspicious  of  him, 
kept  him  under  surveillance,  and  refused  him 
his  passports  when  he  desired  to  leave  the 
country.  He  found  no  rest  wherever  he  went. 
Often  he  found  himself  penniless  and  wholly 
without  means  of  support.  His  dishonor  had 
followed  him  from  land  to  land,  and  he  had 
nowhere  to  lay  his  head  to  rest. 


140     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

But  Aaron  Burr  had  one  friend  whose  fidel- 
ity never  faltered.  It  was  Theodosia.  Her 
letters  to  him  breathe  a  spirit  of  tenderness 
and  devotion  that  is  at  once  pathetic  and 
beautiful.  The  greater  his  persecution,  as  she 
Relieved  it  to  be,  the  greater  her  adoration. 
Here  is  an  extract  from  one  of  her  letters 
written  him  while  in  Sweden. 

"  I  witness  your  extraordinary  fortitude  with 
new  wonder  at  every  new  misfortune.  Often 
you  appear  to  me  so  superior,  so  elevated 
above  all  other  men;  I  contemplate  you  with 
such  strange  mixture  of  humility,  admiration, 
reverence,  love,  and  pride  that  very  little 
superstition  would  be  necessary  to  make  me 
worship  you  as  a  superior  being.  When  I 
afterward  revert  to  myself,  how  insignificant 
do  my  best  qualities  appear.  My  vanity  would 
be  greater,  if  I  had  not  been  placed  so  near 
you,  and  yet  my  pride  is  our  relationship." 

Such  devotion  from  such  a  woman  would 
buoy  up  the  spirits  of  any  man.  Burr  often 
said  that  his  only  object  in  life  was  to  serve 
his  daughter  and  her  little  boy.  The  con- 
stancy  of    this    daughter,    whose    honesty  and 


CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON   BURR  14I 

sincerity  cannot  be  questioned,  means  some- 
thing—  it  means  that  Burr's  heart  was  not  all 
bad.  It  is  true,  she  saw  only  the  good,  but 
there  was  good  there,  or  he  could  never 
have  been  to  her  what  he  was.  He  seldom 
told  her  of  his  indigent  condition,  for  he  was 
aware  that  Jefferson's  embargo  had  rendered 
the  cotton  crop  unsalable,  and  that  her  hus- 
band, with  all  his  estates,  was  often  hard 
pressed  for  money. 

Burr  found  no  rest  in  Europe,  and  he  at 
last  decided  to  return  to  his  own  land,  be  the 
consequence  what  it  may.  He  had  been 
absent  four  years,  and,  after  seeking  his  pass- 
ports from  France  for  more  than  a  year,  he 
at  length  received  them,  and  embarked  for 
America  under  an  assumed  name,  reaching 
Boston  in  the  spring  of  1812.  He  made  his 
way  to  New  York,  but  his  presence  excited 
little  interest,  as  war  with  England  was  about 
to  be  waged  and  this  absorbed  pubiic  attention. 

On  reaching  America,  the  returned  wanderer 
performed  the  one  delightful  task  in  which 
he  had  always  been  so  faithful  —  writing  to 
his    daughter.       Six    weeks    passed    when    he 


142      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

received  an  answer.  The  news  it  bore  was  sad 
indeed.  The  letter  was  a  wail  of  grief.  Theo- 
dosia  had  lost  her  little  boy,  her  only  child. 
The  boy  had  shown  signs  of  unusual  talent,  and 
he  was  the  hope  and  pride  of  his  parents  and 
his  grandfather.  Their  dreams  of  his  future 
greatness  thus  vanished  by  his  early  death,  and 
his  mother  was  inconsolable.  Her  father  wrote 
frequently,  offering  her  every  consolation  in 
his  power,  but  she  would  not  be  comforted. 
Burr  himself  had  doted  on  his  promising 
grandchild,  and  ceased  to  mourn  his  loss  only 
at  the  end  of  his  life.  The  mention  of  the 
subject  would  start  the  tear,  but  this  man  of 
iron  would  fold  his  arms  tightly  over  his 
breast,  as  if,  by  mere  physical  strength,  he 
would  repress  the  tide  of  emotion.1 

But  the  bitterest  sorrow  of  all  was  yet  to 
come  to  Aaron  Burr. 

Theodosia's  grief  for  her  lost  boy  did  not 
abate,  and  her  health  began  to  fail.  It  was 
decided  that  she  leave  her  Southern  home  and 
fly  to  her  father.  Her  husband  would  have 
accompanied  her,  but  being  now  governor  of 

1  Parton,  Vol.  II.  p.  247. 


CONSPIRACY   OF  AARON    BURR  143 

South  Carolina,  he  could  not  leave  his  official 
duties.  She  embarked  at  Charleston  in  a  small 
schooner  late  in  December,  181?,  occupying  the 
best  cabin  with  her  maid  and  her  physician. 
Fond  were  the  good-bys  to  her  loving  hus- 
band as  the  vessel  sailed  away ;  fond  were  her 
anticipations  of  soon  embracing  a  father  whose 
devotion  to  her  had  been  as  constant  as  the 
northern  star. 

The  vessel  was  lost  upon  the  ocean.  It  was 
never  seen  nor  heard  of  again,  and  not  a  life 
was  saved ! 

The  agonized  suspense  of  Burr  can  only 
be  imagined.  The  eager  letters  exchanged 
between  him  and  his  son-in-law,  the  longing 
for  news  of  the  lost  one,  the  hope,  the  despair, 
and  at  last  the  settled  conviction  that  he  was 
alone  now,  that  he  would  see  his  daughter's 
face  no  more,  furnish  the  most  pathetic  chap- 
ter in  the  strange  history  of  Aaron  Burr. 

He  said  to  a  friend  that  when  he  realized 
the  truth  of  his  daughter's  death,  the  world 
became  to  him  a  blank,  and  life  lost  all  its 
value.  To  her  bereaved  husband  he  wrote 
that  he  felt  himself   severed  from  the  human 


144     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

race.  Governor  Alston  survived  his  wife  but 
a  few  years,  but  the  stormy  career  of  Burr 
was  yet  to  continue  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
century. 

Later  Life  of  Aaron  Burr 

Very  briefly  let  us  notice  the  last  chapter 
in  this  strange  drama.  Of  the  conspicuous 
names  in  the  annals  of  America,  next  to  that 
of  Benedict  Arnold,  the  name  of  Aaron  Burr 
is  the  most  odious.  It  is  certain  that  he  did 
not  deserve  the  love  of  his  countrymen,  but  it 
is  equally  certain  that  he  has  been  unduly 
hated.  There  is  a  tendency  in  human  nature 
to  join  in  the  hue  and  cry  of  the  unthinking 
crowd,  and  our  subject  was  a  victim  of  that 
tendency. 

He  had  come  back  to  New  York  by  stealth, 
in  the  fear  that  his  creditors  would  prosecute 
and  imprison  him,  or  that  the  old  indictments 
against  him  would  be  pushed.  Finding,  how- 
ever, that  he  was  not  likely  to  be  molested, 
he  quietly  began  to  practise  his  profession. 
He  was  a  great  lawyer,  and,  it  is  said,  never 
lost   a   case   in   his   life,  though   he  was   very 


CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON   BURR  145 

careful  not  to  undertake  a  bad  cause.  In  a 
short  time  he  was  earning  a  good  income,  and 
soon  had  many  of  his  debts  paid  off.  But  he 
never  won  the  favor  of  the  public ;  in  fact, 
he  lost  ground  in  this  direction  to  the  end  of 
his  life.  It  became  the  popular  thing  to  cut 
him  in  society,  and  to  circulate  in  the  news- 
papers malicious  and  wholly  false  statements 
concerning  him.  These  he  never  noticed,  nor 
did  he  ever  attempt  to  set  himself  right  with 
the  public.  His  old  age  was  similar  to  that 
of  other  men,  except  that  he  was  alone ;  but 
he  became  hardened  to  his  lonely  life,  and 
lost  his  interest  in  public  opinion.  That  he 
was  a  man  of  the  grossest  habits  and  desires 
was  often  stated,  but  there  is  little  foundation 
for  such  statements. 

Aaron  Burr  was  a  very  kind-hearted  man, 
and  his  love  for  children,  especially  after  the 
death  of  his  grandson,  was  almost  a  passion. 
He  was  exceedingly  kind  to  the  poor,  and 
many  a  time  he  gave  away  his  last  dollar. 
Old  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  and  their  de- 
scendants, and  those  who  had  lost  money  in 
his  hapless  expedition  in  the  Mississippi  Valley, 


146     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN    HISTORY 

never  applied  to  him  for  aid  without  receiving 
it,  if  in  his  power  to  help  them.  He  often  had 
several  boys  and  girls  attending  school  at  his 
expense. 

Once,  when  driving  through  the  country,  he 
saw  a  rude  crayon  drawing  on  the  side  of  a 
stable  which  showed  some  signs  of  genius. 
Learning  that  a  little  ragged  boy  had  made 
it,  he  took  the  boy  to  the  city,  educated  him, 
sent  him  to  Europe,  and  had  the  gratification 
to  see  him  become  a  famous  artist. 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  trait  in  this 
remarkable  man  was  his  wonderful  self-poise. 
He  was  truly  a  philosopher.  Whatever  the 
public  thought  of  him,  it  did  not  change  his 
opinion  of  himself ;  however  the  people  de- 
nounced him,  he  never  for  a  moment  lost 
his  self-esteem.  He  never  weakened,  never 
complained,  never  exhibited  resentment  nor 
bitterness.  He  never  repented  having  killed 
Hamilton,  always  claiming  that  the  latter  had 
treated  him  shamefully,  and  deserved  his  fate. 

The  one  great  sorrow  of  his  later  life,  the 
death  of  Theodosia  and  her  little  boy,  rent 
his   heart,    and    left   a   wound   that   could    not 


CONSPIRACY   OF   AARON   BURR  1 47 

heal.  But  all  his  other  misfortunes,  great  as 
they  were,  never  seemed  seriously  to  disturb 
his  mind.  We  learn  by  his  diary  and  by  the 
testimony  of  others  that  he  was  always  the 
same  —  jovial,  full  of  flashing  wit,  self-confi- 
dent, and  unconquerable.  One  of  the  boys 
whom  he  had  educated  was  asked  in  later  life 
what  effect  Burr's  character  had  had  upon  his 
own. 

"  He  made  me  iron,"  was  the  emphatic  reply. 

Burr's  religious  views  are  scarcely  known. 
He  often  said  that  the  Bible  was  the  greatest 
and  best  of  books,  but  would  not  express  him- 
self further.  During  the  last  two  years  of  his 
life  he  was  a  hopeless  paralytic.  A  clergyman 
frequently  visited  him  and  prayed  with  him. 
Burr  was  very  reverent,  and  always  thanked 
the  clergyman  for  his  services,  but  would  not 
disclose  his  own  belief.  He  died  in  1836,  in 
his  eighty-first  year,  and  was  buried  by  the 
side  of   his  fathers  at  Princeton,  New   Jersey, 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Missouri  Compromise 


X 


One  of  the  most  momentous  legislative  acts 
in  the  history  of  America  is  that  known  as  the 
Missouri  Compromise.  From  this  point,  it  may- 
be said,  the  great  agitation  between  the  North 
and  the  South  on  the  slavery  question  took 
its  rise ;  thenceforth  it  continued  to  be  the 
dominant  public  question  for  more  than  forty 
years,  culminating  at  last  in  the  great  Civil  War. 

This  volume  is  not  intended  to  be  a  history 
of  our  national  legislation ;  its  aim  is  to  present 
with  some  detail  a  few  of  the  strategic  points, 
the  pivots  on  which  the  ponderous  machinery 
of  our  history  has  turned.1  With  this  end  in 
view,  the  ordinary  doings  of  Congress  are 
omitted ;  but  here  and  there  we  find  an  act 
of  the  National  Legislature  of  such  importance 
that  to  omit  it  would  be  to  do  injustice  to  the 

1  See  Preface. 
148 


THE  MISSOURI   COMPROMISE  1 49 

object  of  the  book.  Among  these  must  be 
classed  the  Missouri  Compromise.  This  was 
purely  a  slavery  question  ;  it  is  fitting,  there- 
fore, to  give,  as  an  introduction,  a  brief  account 
of  slavery  in  America  up  to  that  time. 

Slavery  during  the  Colonial  Period 

The  enslavement  of  man  by  his  fellow-man 
was  almost  universal  among  ancient  peoples. 
The  system  in  most  countries  gradually  merged 
into  the  serfdom  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  eventu- 
ally disappeared,  after  being  greatly  ameliorated 
by  the  influence  of  Christianity.  In  ancient 
times  slavery  was  usually  the  result  of  con- 
quest in  war.  The  enslavement  of  the  African 
race  on  commercial  grounds  had  its  beginning 
in  comparatively  modern  times. 

Slavery  in  the  English  colonies  of  North 
America  dates  back  to  within  twelve  years  of 
the  founding  of  the  first  colony,  Virginia ;  but 
it  had  existed  in  Central  America  and  in  South 
America  for  more  than  a  century  before  that, 
and  in  southern  Europe  for  about  fifty  years 
before  the  discovery  of  the  New  World  by 
Columbus.     Not  long  after  the  introduction  of 


150     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

slavery  into  the  colonies,  the  traffic  in  slaves 
became  quite  profitable,  and  was  chiefly  carried 
on  by  English  traders.  England  was  respon- 
sible, above  all  other  countries,  for  slavery  in 
the  United  States.  At  different  times  the  colo- 
nies attempted  to  suppress  the  slave-trade,  but 
the  British  government  thwarted  them  at  every 
turn  —  simply  because  it  was  a  profitable  means 
of  commerce. 

As  early  as  171 2  Pennsylvania  passed  an 
act  to  restrict  the  increase  of  slaves,  but  it 
was  annulled  by  the  Crown.1  Fourteen  years 
later  Virginia  attempted  to  check  the  trade 
by  laying  a  tax  on  imported  negroes,  but  the 
colony  was  soon  forced  to  repeal  the  law. 
South  Carolina  attempted  to  restrict  the  trade 
in  1 76 1,  and  Massachusetts  made  a  similar 
attempt  ten  years  later.  In  each  case  the 
effort  was  summarily  crushed  by  the  British 
Crown.  The  traffic  was  a  source  of  much 
profit  to  England,  and  she  would  listen  to  no 
promptings  of  humanity  in  the  matter.  There 
had  been  founded  in  England,  more  than  a 
century    before    the     Revolution,    the     Royal 

1  Wilson's  "  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power,"  Vol.  I.  p.  4. 


•THE   MISSOURI   COMPROMISE  15  I 

African  Company,  a  great  monopoly,  which 
furnished  slaves  for  all  the  British  colonies 
throughout  the  world.  Queen  Anne  owned 
one-fourth  of  the  stock  in  this  company  during 
her  reign,  and  she  especially  enjoined  Parlia- 
ment to  suffer  no  interference  with  the  slave- 
trade. 

Thus  England,  while  not  permitting  slavery 
on  her  home  soil,  not  only  encouraged,  but 
enforced  it,  in  her  colonies.  But  the  mother 
country  was  not  alone  to  blame  for  the  in- 
crease of  the  traffic  in  North  America.  The 
colonists  purchased  the  slaves ;  if  they  had 
not,  the  traffic  would  have  died  out.  Vir- 
ginians made  the  first  settlement  in  North 
Carolina,  and  took  their  slaves  with  them. 
Sir  John  Yeamans  introduced  them  into  South 
Carolina  from  the  Barbadoes,  and  from  South 
Carolina  they  were  carried  into  Georgia. 

The  Society  of  Friends,  or  Quakers,  took 
the  lead  in  opposing  slavery,  beginning  about 
1688.  The  Pennsylvania  Germans  also  en- 
tered their  protest  against  the  evil  at  an 
early  date.  John  Wesley  called  slavery  the 
sum    of    all   villanies.      At    the    time    of    the 


152     SIDE  LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Revolution  all  the  colonies  but  one,  Massachu 
setts,  had  slaves.  The  Continental  Congress  of 
1774  pronounced  against  the  slave-trade.  This 
was  repeated  two  years  later,  only  three 
months  before  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence. The  people  were  so  jubilant  over  their 
own  prospects  of  freedom  that  they  were  dis- 
posed to  extend  the  blessings  of  liberty  to 
their  slaves  ;  but  this  feeling  was  temporary 
with  many,  and  subsided  after  the  war  was 
over.  Jefferson  in  writing  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  put  in  a  clause  condemning 
the  slave-trade,  but  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 
demanded  that  it  be  struck  out,  and  it  was 
done.  But  they  could  not  prevent  that  grand 
sentiment  in  the  Declaration  :  "  All  men  are 
created  equal "  —  not  equal  in  mental  gifts 
nor  in  worldly  station,  but  equal  in  their  right 
to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 
If  the  colonists  had  followed  out  that  noble 
principle,  it  would  have  freed  every  slave  in 
America ;  and  indeed  it  did  furnish  a  power- 
ful weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  opponents  of 
slavery  down  to  its  overthrow  in  the  sixties. 
Soon     after    the     Revolution    the    northern 


THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE  1 55 

States  took  hold  of  the  matter  and  began  to 
emancipate,  Pennsylvania  leading  in  1780. 
Virginia  came  very  near  it  two  years  before. 
New  Hampshire  became  a  free  state  in  1784, 
New  York  in  1799,  and  so  on  until  all  the 
northern  States  had  abolished  slavery.  New 
Jersey  had  a  few  left  as  late  as   1840. 

In  1787  an  ordinance  was  framed  for  gov- 
erning the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio 
River,  afterward  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and 
Michigan.  In  this  document,  known  as  "  The 
Ordinance  of  1787,"  slavery  was  forever  pro- 
hibited in  that  territory.  Had  it  not  been  for 
this  prohibition  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois 
would  no  doubt  have  become  slave  States,  as 
they  were  largely  settled  by  emigrants  from 
Virginia  and  Kentucky.1  Even  then  efforts 
were  made  by  Governor  William  Henry  Harri- 
son and  others  to  break  down  that  ordinance 
and  to  make  Indiana  and  Illinois  slave 
States ;  but  they  were  not  successful. 

In  1784  Jefferson  introduced  in  the  old 
Congress  a  similar  ordinance  to  prohibit  slavery 
in  the  new  States  south  of  the  Ohio,  afterward 

1  Wilson's  "Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power,"  Vol.  I.  p.  163. 


154      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Mississippi,  etc.  Had 
this  motion  carried  and  been  effective,  how 
great  would  have  been  the  results ;  slavery 
would  have  been  confined  to  the  few  Atlantic 
States  in  the  South,  and  would  no  doubt  have 
died  a  natural  death.  This  would  have  pre- 
vented the  seventy  years  of  slavery  agitation 
and  the  great  Civil  War.  But  the  measure 
was  lost  by  one  vote.1  A  member  from  New 
Jersey  who  would  have  voted  for  it  was 
absent,  and  for  want  of  his  vote  the  measure 
was  lost.  Thus  the  entire  course  of  our 
history  was  changed  by  the  absence  of  one 
man  from  Congress  on  a  certain  day  in  1784! 
Here  let  me  say  a  word  about  the  slave- 
trade,  especially  the  smuggling  trade.  This 
was  certainly  one  of  the  most  nefarious  pieces 
of  business  ever  carried  on.  A  vessel  would 
go  to  the  African  coast  and  secure  a  cargo  of 
negroes.  These  were  packed  in  the  ship 
almost  like  sardines  in  a  box,  and  so  inhuman 
was  the  treatment  that  sometimes  thirty  per 
cent  of  them  died  before  reaching  America. 
A  smuggling  vessel,  pursued,  would  sometimes 

1  Greeley's  "American  Conflict,"  Vol.  I.  p.  163. 


THE   MISSOURI   COMPROMISE  1 55 

throw  its  entire  cargo  of  negroes  overboard ! 
This  occurred  on  various  occasions.  But  when 
a  smuggling  ship  was  caught,  it  seldom  brought 
relief  to  the  poor  blacks,  as  the  laws  were 
persistently  against  them,  and  often  a  whole 
cargo  of  negroes  was  sold  to  pay  the  cost  of 
investigation.  There  was  always  a  way  found 
to  enslave  the  black  man;  sending  him  back 
to  his  home  in  Africa,  or  giving  him  his  free- 
dom in  this  country  was  almost  unheard  of. 
A  committee  of  Congress  recommended  that  a 
free  colored  man  on  trial  and  proving  him- 
self free,  must  pay  the  cost  of  the  trial,  and 
if  unable  to  do  so  must  be  sold  into  slavery 
to  defray  the  expenses !  But  fortunately  this 
did  not  become  a  law. 

Slavery  under  the  Constitution 

A  majority  of  the  makers  of  the  Constitution 
would  gladly  have  seen  slavery  abolished  in  all 
parts  of  the  country  where  it  still  existed ;  but 
this  was  not  possible,  for  some  of  the  southern 
States  had  come  to  believe  that  slavery  was 
necessary  to  their  prosperity.  It  was  plain  that 
no  Union  could  be  formed  if  the   Constitution 


156     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

were  so  framed  as  to  interfere  with  the  right  to 
hold  property  in  slaves.  Not  only  did  the  Con- 
stitution recognize  the  right  of  property  in 
slaves ;  it  forbade  Congress  to  prohibit  the  for- 
eign slave-trade  before  the  year  1808.1  This 
prohibition  is  part  of  one  of  the  compromises 
of  that  instrument. 

In  1806  President  Jefferson  congratulated 
Congress  on  the  near  approach  of  the  time 
when  the  traffic  could  be  shut  off.  Accord- 
ingly when  the  time  came  Congress  prohibited 
the  African  trade  under  stringent  laws.  It  is 
fair  to  the  South  to  say  here  that  the  southern 
States  had  prohibited  the  trade,  each  in  its  own 
borders,  long  before.  South  Carolina,  however, 
had  reopened  it  in  1803,  and  in  the  five  remain- 
ing years  imported  forty  thousand  negroes. 

The  people  in  the  North  and  many  in  the 
South  now  fondly  believed  that  this  National 
prohibition  of  1808  had  severed  the  artery  of 
slavery  itself,  and  that  the  whole  system  would 
disappear  in  time  in  the  South  as  it  had  in  the 
North.  They  were  therefore  lulled  to  quiet 
on  the    subject,  and    there    was    little'  slavery 

1  See  Chapter  II. 


THE   MISSOURI   COMPROMISE  1 57 

agitation  for  ten  years.  But  their  hope  was  a 
delusion.  The  cotton-gin,  which  rendered  the 
laborious  work  of  separating  the  cotton  fibre 
from  the  seed  rapid  and  easy,  made  the  raising 
of  cotton  the  greatest  industry  in  America,  and 
slave-labor  was  thought  to  be  essential  to  its 
continuance.  More  slaves  were  needed,  but 
they  could  not  be  had  from  Africa  except  by 
smuggling.  The  new  cotton  States  opening  up 
along  the  Mississippi  were  greatly  in  need  of 
more  slaves,  while  Virginia  had  too  many. 
Hence  the  interstate  slave-trade  was  established. 
The  Louisiana  Purchase  added  a  vast  ter- 
ritory beyond  the  Mississippi  to  our  public 
domain.  Soon  after  the  War  of  1812,  this  terri- 
tory began  to  be  settled,  and  the  great  ques- 
tion now  arose  —  slavery  or  no  slavery  in 
the  Great  West  ?  Missouri  being  the  first 
of  the  trans-Mississippi  Territories  to  apply 
for  statehood,  became  the  battle-ground,  and 
upon  the  Missouri  question  the  slavery  ques- 
tion for  the  West  was  fought  out.  But  the 
slaveholders  stole  a  march  by  settling  the  Mis- 
souri Territory  and  taking  their  slaves  with 
them.     When  the  petition,  therefore,  came   to 


158      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

the  Fifteenth  Congress  that  Missouri  be  ad- 
mitted into  the  Union,  it  was  as  a  slave  State. 

It  was  believed  that  there  would  be  little 
objection,  but  the  majority  of  the  people  of  the 
North  were  becoming  alarmed  at  the  powerful 
hold  with  which  slavery  was  fastening  itself 
upon  the  country.  It  was  clearly  seen  that 
slavery  admitted  into  Missouri  without  protest 
meant  slavery  in  the  whole  Louisiana  Purchase. 
It  must  be  opposed.  Who  will  lead  the  oppo- 
sition ? 

There  was  a  young  man  in  Congress  from 
New  York  named  James  Talmadge.  This  was 
his  first  and  only  term  in  Congress.  He  it  was 
that  rose  and  moved  to  strike  out  the  slavery 
clause  from  the  Missouri  bill.  He  was  a  youth 
of  burning  eloquence,  and  in  the  speech  with 
which  he  supported  his  motion  he  electrified 
the  House  and  the  nation. 1  Old  men  were 
reminded  of  the  marvellous  eloquence  of  Fisher 
Ames  in  1 796.  Talmadge  was  not  alone ;  he 
had  a  powerful  fellow-worker  in  John  W.  Tay- 
lor, also  of  New  York,  and  afterward  speaker 
of  the  House.     The  whole   South  was  instantly 

1Schouler's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  Vol.  III.  p.  134. 


THE   MISSOURI   COMPROMISE  1 59 

arrayed  on  the  opposite  side.  During  this 
debate,  a  slave-driver  with  a  gang  of  negroes 
passed  the  open  windows  of  the  Capitol,  and 
the  clank  of  chains,  the  crack  of  the  whip,  and 
the  oaths  of  the  driver  gave  great  effect  to  the 
speeches  in  favor  of  freedom.  These  two,  Tal- 
madge  and  Taylor,  piloted  the  amendment 
through  the  House,  but  it  was  defeated  in  the 
Senate  and  left  over  to  the  next  Congress. 

The  question  was  thus  thrown  open  to  the 
public  ;  but  the  people  were  not  in  a  position  to 
act  at  an  advantage,  as  the  election  of  the  new 
Congress  had  already  taken  place.  Neverthe- 
less they  made  themselves  heard.  The  people 
of  the  North  had  grown  listless  on  the  slavery 
subject  in  the  belief  that  the  status  of  the  in- 
stitution was  settled,  and  that  no  attempt  would 
be  made  to  increase  the  number  of  slave  States. 
But  the  Missouri  question  roused  them  from 
their  lethargy.  Great  meetings  were  held  in  the 
cities,  towns,  villages,  everywhere.  Resolutions 
were  passed  branding  slavery  as  a  moral  and 
political  evil,  avowing  that  it  should  encroach 
no  farther  on  free  soil,  and  calling  on  Congress 
to   prohibit   it  in    Missouri.      State  legislatures 


l6o     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

passed  similar  resolutions ;  and  the  subject 
was  discussed  in  public  speeches,  sermons, 
pamphlets,  and  newspapers  on  all  sides. 

From  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  we 
hear  a  different  voice.  The  people  of  the 
South  took  the  other  side  of  the  question,  and 
spoke  with  a  decision  equal  to  that  of  the 
North.  They  said  that  Congress  had  no 
right  to  prohibit  slavery  in  any  State,  that 
Missouri  would  not  stand  on  equal  footing 
with  the  other  States  if  not  allowed  to  man- 
age her  own  affairs.  They  argued  further 
that  if  slavery  was  an  evil,  why  not  thin  it 
out  by  spreading  it  over  more  territory  ? 

The  two  sections,  the  North  and  the  South, 
had  thus  begun  to  array  themselves  on  op- 
posite sides.  It  is  true  the  beginnings  of 
their  differences  date  back  to  Revolutionary 
times,  but  they  assumed  serious  proportions 
only  with  the  rise  of  the  Missouri  question ; 
yet  none  could  foretell  that  this  was  but  the 
preliminary  skirmish  of  a  long  and  dreadful 
conflict  that  must  eventually  drench  the  land 
in  blood. 


THE  MISSOURI   COMPROMISE  l6l 

The  Sixteenth  Congress 

The  Sixteenth  Congress  stands  out  as  a 
landmark  in  our  history  on  account  of  its 
one  great  measure  —  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise. The  first  session  of  this  Congress  be- 
gan in  December,  1819,  and  the  great  question 
at  once  came  up  for  a  final  solution.  The  pre- 
ceding Congress  had  grappled  with  the  sub- 
ject, as  we  have  noticed,  but  the  two  Houses 
had  failed  to  agree,  and  the  new  Congress 
was  also  divided.  Talmadge  was  not  now  a 
member,  and  Taylor  became  the  champion  for 
free  Missouri.  The  debates,  covering  several 
months,  were  very  able  in  both  House  and 
Senate.  With  much  ability  Taylor  piloted 
through  the  House  a  motion  to  prohibit  sla- 
very in  Missouri.  The  leaders  of  the  other 
side  were  Henry  Clay,  the  speaker,  Charles 
Pinckney,  a  framer  of  the  Constitution,  John 
Tyler,  a  future  President,  and  William  Lowndes, 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  men  of  the  South. 

Again  was  the  Missouri  Bill  sent  to  the  Sen- 
ate, with  the  clause  admitting  slavery  struck 
out.     Here  the  debates  even   surpassed   those 


1 62     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

of  the  House.  The  leader  on  the  slave  side 
was  William  Pinkney  of  Maryland,  said  to 
have  been  the  greatest  lawyer  in  America  —  a 
distinction  afterward  held  by  Daniel  Webster. 
Pinkney's  speech  on  the  subject  was  one  of 
the  greatest  ever  made  in  the  Senate.  It  was 
answered  by  Rufus  King  of  New  York,  the 
venerable  statesman  whose  public  career  dated 
back  to  the  Revolution. 

Now  the  Senate  was  balanced  and  had  been 
from  the  beginning  of  the  Government,  half 
from  slave  States  and  half  from  free  States ; 
but  there  were  a  few  "  Northern  men  with 
Southern  principles,"  as  they  were  called,  who 
were  ever  ready  to  help  the  slaveholders.  At 
this  time  there  were  three,  one  from  Indiana 
and  the  two  from  Illinois,  who  could  be 
counted  on  to  aid  the  South  when  needed. 
When  the  bill,  therefore,  to  admit  Missouri 
passed  the  Senate,  the  amendment  to  prohibit 
slavery  was  again  struck  out;  and  the  House 
again  voted  to  disagree.  Thus  the  two  Houses 
had  reached  a  deadlock,  and  it  seemed  that 
nothing  could  be  done. 

It  happened   at   this   time   that   Maine   was 


THE   MISSOURI   COMPROMISE  163 

also  seeking  admission  to  the  Union.  The 
territory  of  Maine  had  belonged  to  Massa- 
chusetts from  colonial  times.  After  many 
fruitless  efforts  to  obtain  a  separation  from 
Massachusetts,  the  latter  had  at  last  given 
her  consent,  on  the  condition,  however,  that 
Maine  be  admitted  to  the  Union  before  the 
fourth  of  March,  1820.1  The  time  limit  was 
drawing  near,  and  the  people  of  Maine  were 
clamoring  for  admission ;  but  the  Missouri 
question  was  still  unsettled,  and  this  was  ab- 
sorbing the  whole  attention. 

The  Senate  now  adopted  a  new  plan ;  it 
united  the  Missouri  and  Maine  bills  into  one. 
It  is  a  principle  in  our  National  legislation 
that  a  bill,  however  incongruous  its  parts, 
cannot  be  separated  by  one  House  of  Con- 
gress after  it  leaves  the  other.  Thus  the 
House  could  not  admit  Maine  into  the  Union 
without  admitting  Missouri  also,  with  slavery. 
Before  this  twofold  measure  left  the  Senate, 
however,  Senator  Thomas  of  Illinois,  who  had 
steadily  voted  with  the  South,  moved  that  sla- 
very be  henceforth   prohibited   in   the   Louisi- 

1  MacMaster,  Vol.  IV.  p.  581. 


1 64     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

ana  Purchase  north  of  thirty-six  degrees  and 
thirty  minutes  north  latitude  —  except,  of 
course,  in  Missouri,  which  lies  north  of  that 
line.  This  was  the  famous  Missouri  Compro- 
mise. It  was  thrown  as  a  bait  to  the  North 
in  the  hope  that  the  House  would  thus  be  led 
to  pass  the  measure  and  admit  Missouri  with 
slavery. 

Late  in  February  this  Maine-Missouri  bill 
was  sent  to  the  House ;  but  that  body  refused 
to  consider  it.  The  Senate  then  asked  for  a 
conference,  and  a  joint  committee  of  the  two 
Houses  was  appointed.  Speaker  Clay  was 
careful  to  appoint  men  from  the  House  who 
favored  slavery  in  Missouri ;  and  this  com- 
mittee soon  agreed  to  report  the  measure  as 
it  had  passed  the  Senate,  including  the  thirty- 
six-thirty  amendment  of  Senator  Thomas. 

The  Lower  House  had  been  gradually 
weakening,  but  it  was  still  hard  to  yield.  It 
did  so,  however,  and  the  bill  was  passed, 
signed  by  President  Monroe,  and  became  law 
on  March  3,  1820.  The  members  from  the 
North  who  voted  for  the  bill  were  called 
"  Doughfaces "    by   John    Randolph,    and    this 


THE  MISSOURI   COMPROMISE  165 

term  was  used  for  many  years  thereafter  to 
designate  a  "  Northern  man  with  Southern 
principles." 

Missouri,  however,  was  not  finally  admitted 
to  the  Union  at  this  time,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
her  people  in  framing  a  constitution  forbade 
free  negroes  on  her  soil,  and  also  forbade  any 
future  legislature  to  pass  any  law  emancipating 
slaves  without  the  consent  of  the  owners.  To 
this  Congress  refused  to  agree,  the  old  strife 
was  renewed  and  kept  up  for  another  year, 
when  the  State  was  at  last  admitted  on  the  con- 
dition that  the  obnoxious  features  be  expunged 
from  her  constitution. 

The  Missouri  Compromise  was  a  victory  for 
the  South.  The  North  had  grown  weary  of 
the  long  strife  that  promised  no  victory,  and 
had  yielded,  partly  because  of  the  difficulty 
that  would  have  been  involved  in  removing 
the  slaves  already  in  Missouri.  This  compro- 
mise has  often  been  called  Clay's  Compromise ; 
but  there  is  no  warrant  for  this,  and  Clay  him- 
self often  wondered  why  he  should  be  considered 
its  author.  It  is  true  Clay  favored  settling  the 
matter  in  this  way,  and  he  appointed  the  House 


1 66     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

committee  that  made  the  report;  but  he  was 
not  more  instrumental  than  some  others  in 
bringing  about  the  final  result.  The  Missouri 
Compromise  was  born  with  great  tribulation ; 
but  it  brought  peace  to  the  land  on  the 
slavery  subject  for  several  years.  It  remained 
unbroken  for  thirty-four  years,  when  it  was  re- 
pealed by  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  of  Stephen 
A.  Douglas.  This  will  be  treated  in  a  later 
chapter. 


CHAPTER    IX 
The  Monroe  Doctrine 

James  Monroe  was  President  of  the  United 
States  from  1817  to  1825.  He  has  been  called 
the  last  and  least  of  the  great  Virginians.  His 
administration  is  remembered  in  our  history  as 
the  "era  of  good  feeling,"  as,  in  a  century  of 
political  storm,  the  one  period  of  calm  in  which 
party  lines  were  obliterated.  Monroe  also  holds 
the  distinction  of  having  been  the  only  Presi- 
dent except  Washington  whose  election  was 
practically  unanimous.1 

As  a  statesman,  President  Monroe  must  be 
ranked  below  all  his  predecessors  and  many  of 

1  In  the  election  of  1816  Monroe  received  one  hundred 
and  eighty-three  electoral  votes  to  thirty-four  for  Rufus  King. 
In  1820  all  the  electors  voted  for  Monroe  save  one,  a  Mr. 
Plumer  of  New  Hampshire,  who  voted  for  John  Quincy 
Adams  on  the  ground,  as  he  said,  that  Washington  alone 
should  bear  the  honor  of  a  unanimous  election. 
167 


1 68     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

his  successors  in  the  presidential  office;  yet  it 
is  true  that  his  name  is  known  more  familiarly 
to-day  in  foreign  countries  than  that  of  any 
other  of  our  early  Presidents  except  the  name 
of  Washington.  This  is  because  of  the  fact  that 
his  name  is  inseparably  linked  with  the  famous 
principle  in  our  foreign  policy  known  as  the 
Monroe  Doctrine. 

How  this  Doctrine  Originated 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  has  its  root  in  Wash- 
ington's Farewell  Address  of  a  quarter  of  a 
century  before  the  declaration  by  Monroe ; 
and  indeed  the  germs  of  it  may  be  found  in 
his  Proclamation  of  Neutrality  of  a  still  earlier 
date.  In  the  Farewell  Address,  Washington 
urged  that  America  stand  aloof  from  the  politi- 
cal broils  of  Europe.  A  few  years  later,  Jef- 
ferson, in  his  first  inaugural  address,  warned 
against  "entangling  alliances"  with  foreign 
nations.  This  attitude  of  non-interference  in 
matters  wholly  European  expanded  until  it 
included  a  determination  to  oppose  all  Euro- 
pean interference  in  affairs  wholly  American. 
This  doctrine  had  become  a  settled    policy  in 


THE   MONROE   DOCTRINE  1 69 

the  public  mind,  and  needed  only  an  occasion 
to  call  forth  a  declaration  of  it  from  the  high- 
est authority.  This  occasion  arose  in  1823, 
when,  in  his  annual  message  to  Congress 
(December  2),  President  Monroe  gave  utter- 
ance to  the  " doctrine"  that  has  since  been 
called  by  his  name. 

It  is  generally  asserted  that  the  "  Holy  Alli- 
ance "  was  formed  in  Europe  for  the  purpose 
of  assisting  Spain  to  reduce  her  rebellious 
South  American  colonies  to  submission ;  but 
the  fact  is,  this  alliance  was  simply  a  joint 
resolution  of  the  sovereigns  of  Russia,  Austria, 
and  Prussia  to  rule  their  respective  countries 
in  strict  accordance  with  the  principles  of  the 
Christian  religion.  It  was  an  outburst  of 
religious  enthusiasm  occasioned  by  the  fall  of 
Napoleon  at  Waterloo,  and  there  is  no  proof 
that  any  ulterior  motives  entered  into  the 
agreement.1 

It  was  these  same  three  powers,  however, 
that  met  in  conference  at  Verona  in  October, 
1822,  to  consider  plans  to  put  down  an  insur- 
rection in   Spain    and   to    aid    that   country  in 

1  See  MacMaster's  "  With  the  P'athers,"  p.   2. 


170     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

reducing  the  South  American  Republics.  They 
had  met  two  years  before  for  the  purpose  of 
crushing  out  the  spirit  of  freedom  in  Naples, 
and  an  Austrian  army  had  succeeded  in  do- 
ing this.  Now  they  turned  their  attention 
to  Spain.  England  was  represented  at  this 
Verona  conference,  and  she  entered  her  ear- 
nest protest  against  any  interference  in  South 
America.  Two  reasons  may  be  given  for  this 
stand  taken  by  England  —  first,  she  was  be- 
yond a  doubt  farther  advanced  in  her  ideas 
of  liberty  and  of  human  rights  than  were  the 
continental  countries,  and  second,  she  had  im- 
portant commercial  interests  with  the  South 
American  Republics  which  she  desired  should 
not  be  disturbed. 

The  power  of  Spain  had  been  greatly  re- 
duced by  Napoleon  I.,  and  she  was  no  longer 
able  to  govern  her  colonies.  These  colonies 
in  the  Western  World,  except  Cuba,  had  re- 
volted against  the  mother  country,  and  after 
a  revolutionary  war  of  more  than  ten  years 
were  in  1822  recognized  as  independent  repub- 
lics by  our  own  country.  Before  the  close  of 
that  year  the  Verona  Congress  met,  and   the 


THE   MONROE   DOCTRINE  171 

three  monarchs  who  had  entered  into  the 
Holy  Alliance,  ever  vigilant  to  uphold  abso- 
lutism as  against  natural  human  rights  and 
liberties,  proposed  to  aid  Spain  in  subjugating 
her  western  possessions. 

In  August,  1823,  Mr.  Canning,  the  English 
minister  of  foreign  affairs,  proposed  to  Mr. 
Richard  Rush,  our  minister  at  the  Court  of 
St.  James,  that  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  issue  a  joint  declaration  in  opposition 
to  the  designs  of  the  allied  powers.  Mr.  Rush 
fully  agreed  with  Canning  that  something 
should  be  done  to  save  the  new  republics  from 
reenslavement,  but  he  had  no  instructions  to 
act.  He  wrote  a  full  account  of  the  whole 
matter  to  President  Monroe,  who,  after  care- 
ful deliberation,  and  after  asking  the  opinions 
and  receiving  the  written  approval  of  both 
Jefferson  and  Madison,  decided  to  embody 
the  general  public  sentiment  on  the  subject  in 
his  message  to  Congress,  which  was  soon  to 
meet.  In  his  annual  message,  therefore,  we 
find  these  words:  — 

"  In  the  wars  of  the  European  Powers  in 
matters  relating  to  themselves  we  have  never 


172     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

taken  any  part,  nor  does  it  comport  with  our 
policy  to  do  so.  .  .  .  We 'owe  it,  therefore,  to 
candor,  and  to  the  amicable  relations  existing 
between  the  United  States  and  those  Powers, 
to  declare  that  we  should  consider  any  attempt 
on  their  part  to  extend  their  system  to  any 
portion  of  this  hemisphere  as  dangerotis  to  our 
peace  and  safety.  With  the  existing  colonies 
or  dependencies  of  any  European  Power  we 
have  not  interfered  and  shall  not  interfere ; 
but  with  the  Governments  who  have  declared 
their  independence  and  maintained  it,  and 
whose  independence  we  have  acknowledged, 
we  could  not  view  any  interposition  for  the 
purpose  of  oppressing  them,  or  controlling  in 
any  other  manner  their  destiny,  by  any  Euro- 
pean Power,  in  any  other  light  than  as  the 
manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  disposition  to- 
ward the  United  States." 

This  is  the  famous  Monroe  Doctrine.  Its 
secondary  immediate  object  was  to  stop  the 
colonizing  of  the  Pacific  coast  by  Russia, 
which  had  been  going  on  for  some  time. 
John  Quincy  Adams  had  expressed  the  same 
thought   in  very   similar  language,   some   time 


THE  MONROE   DOCTRINE  173 

before,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Rush;  and  it  is  gen 
erally  believed  that  Adams  wrote  this  part  of 
Monroe's  message.  But  be  that  as  it  may, 
the  "doctrine"  took  the  name  of  Monroe,  and 
so  it  will  ever  be  known  in  history. 

When  this  message  was  promulgated,  the 
English  people  rejoiced ;  but  their  joy  was 
mild  compared  with  that  in  South  America. 
No  more  was  heard  of  the  unholy  alliance  in 
Europe.  From  that  day  to  the  present  the 
free  republics  of  South  and  Central  America 
have  basked  in  the  favor,  and  lived  under  the 
protection  from  foreign  conquest,  of  the  Great 
Republic  of  the  North ;  and  but  for  that  pro- 
tection most  or  all  of  them  would  no  doubt 
ere  this  have  been  reduced  to  the  vassalage 
of  some  European  Power. 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  in  Operation 

Since  the  declaration  of  President  Monroe 
in  1823,  there  have  been  many  occasions  on 
which  this  American  policy  has  been  called  into 
service,  a  few  of  which  we  shall  briefly  notice. 

The  earliest  opportunity  for  an  international 
discussion  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was  offered 


174      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

through  the  Panama  Congress,  which  met  in 
1826.  This  congress  was  arranged  by  Mexico 
and  the  countries  of  South  America,  and  one 
of  its  objects  was  to  form  an  alliance  to  carry 
the  new  doctrine  into  effect  when  any  occasion 
might  arise.  The  United  States  was  warmly 
invited  to  join  with  them.  John  Quincy  Adams, 
who  was  then  President,  and  Henry  Clay,  his 
secretary  of  state,  agreed  that  our  Government 
should  be  represented,  and  Mr.  Adams  sent  a 
message  to  the  Senate,  urging  that  ministers 
be  appointed  for  the  purpose.  But  there  was 
much  opposition  to  this  in  the  Senate,  not  be- 
cause the  members  disapproved  of  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  but  rather  because  Mr.  Adams  was 
not  popular  in  that  body ;  and  besides,  the 
Panama  Congress  proposed  to  discuss  some 
things  (such  as  the  recognition  of  the  negro 
republic  of  Hayti  and  the  suppression  of  the 
slave-trade)  which  would  be  offensive  to  the 
southern  States.  The  Senate,  therefore,  dis- 
puted about  the  'matter  so  long  that  when  two 
ministers  were  finally  appointed,  it  was  so  late 
that  on  reaching  Panama  they  found  that  the 
Congress  had  adjourned. 


THE   MONROE   DOCTRINE  1 75 

Nearly  twenty  years  later  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine was  prominently  called  into  service  in  set- 
tling the  Oregon  boundary.  In  1845  President 
Polk,  in  his  message  to  Congress  concerning 
this  disputed  boundary,  made  reference  to  the 
doctrine  in  these  words :  "  In  the  existing  cir- 
cumstances .  .  .  the  present  is  deemed  a  proper 
occasion  to  reiterate  and  reaffirm  the  principle 
avowed  by  Mr.  Monroe,  and  to  state  my  cordial 
concurrence  in  its  wisdom  and  sound  policy." 

Three  years  later  another  occasion  of  very 
different  character  arose.  The  peninsula  of 
Yucatan  had  been  greatly  disturbed  by  a  war 
between  the  white  people  and  the  Indians. 
The  white  population  at  length  appealed  to 
England,  Spain,  and  the  United  States  for 
protection,  and  offered  "the  dominion  and  sov- 
ereignty" of  the  peninsula  to  any  one  of  the 
three  that  would  grant  the  necessary  aid. 
President  Polk,  without  waiting  the  action  of 
either  of  the  European  nations,  made  a  direct 
application  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  quoting 
Mr.  Monroe's  exact  words.  This  was  certainly 
applying  the  doctrine  in  the  broadest  possible 
sense.     No   European   nation  was   making   an 


176     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

effort  to  colonize  or  extend  its  political  sys- 
tem in  the  New  World.  On  the  other  hand, 
an  oppressed  people,  struggling  for  existence, 
had  called  on  two  of  them  for  help.1  Yet 
Polk  made  a  direct  application  of  the  declara- 
tion of  President  Monroe.  It  is  notable  that 
in  the  debate  in  the  Senate  which  followed, 
John  C.  Calhoun,  the  only  surviving  member 
of  Monroe's  cabinet,  took  strong  ground  against 
the  general  application  of  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine. Before  any  action  was  taken  the  people 
of  Yucatan  settled  their  troubles,  and  the  whole 
matter  came  to  an  end. 

To  trace  the  application  of  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine in  its  bearing  on  the  proposed  canal  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama  or  Nicaragua,  would 
require  far  more  space  than  can  be  given  it 
here.  We  can  only  make  a  few  general  state- 
ments. As  early  as  1846  the  United  States 
Government  made  a  treaty  with  New  Granada 
(now  the  United  States  of  Colombia),  in  which 
the  latter  granted  the  United  States  the  right 
of  way  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  Three 
years  later  the  republic  of  Nicaragua  granted 

1  MacMaster's  "  With  the  Fathers,"  p.  32. 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  1 77 

us  a  similar  right  to  construct  a  canal  across 
that  country.  Another  treaty  soon  followed, 
that  known  as  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty,  ar- 
ranged in  April,  1850,  by  Mr.  Clayton,  sec- 
retary of  state  under  President  Taylor,  and 
Sir  Henry  Bulwer,  representing  Great  Britain. 
The  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty  was  brought  about 
by  the  English  claims  to  the  Mosquito  Coast 
of  Nicaragua.  It  provided  that  neither  govern- 
ment "  will  ever  obtain  or  maintain  for  itself  any 
exclusive  control  over  the  proposed  ship  canal  " 
across  Nicaragua,  nor  colonize  nor  exercise  do- 
minion over  any  part  of  Central  America.  Soon 
after  the  treaty  was  ratified,  a  dispute  arose 
over  its  provisions,  and  this  delayed  for  sev- 
eral years  any  commencement  of  the  great 
project.  Then  came  the  American  Civil  War 
and  its  train  of  difficulties,  and  nearly  twenty 
years  more  elapsed  before  anything  was  done. 
In  1879  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps  of  France 
organized  a  company  for  the  construction  of 
a  canal  across  Panama ;  but  this  called  forth  a 
declaration  from  our  Congress  of  the  Monroe 
Doctrine.  This  was  repeated  in  substance  by 
President   Garfield,    in   his    inaugural   address, 


178      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN    HISTORY 

and  soon  after  by  Mr.  Blaine,  his  secretary 
of  state. 

Before  the  close  of  the  year  1881  the  Clay- 
ton-Bulwer  treaty  was  again  under  discussion ; 
and  Mr.  Blaine  plainly  informed  the  British 
Government  that  this  country  could  no  longer 
be  bound  by  the  provisions  of  that  treaty, 
because  the  conditions  that  called  it  forth 
were  temporary  in  their  nature,  and  because 
the  development  of  the  Pacific  coast  had  vastly 
increased  the  interest  of  the  United  States,  and 
greatly  changed  the  relative  interest  between 
this  country  and  Great  Britain. 

Without  pursuing  this  subject  further,  let  it 
suffice  to  state  that  President  McKinley,  in 
1897,  appointed  a  Nicaragua  Canal  Commis- 
sion to  survey  a  route  across  Nicaragua  by 
way  of  the  San  Juan  River,  beginning  at  Grey- 
town.  This  commission,  with  a  company  of 
engineers  and  surveyors,  began  its  work  in 
December  of  the  same  year. 

A  ship  canal  across  the  isthmus  at  Panama 
or  through  Nicaragua  is  a  certainty  for  the 
future.  It  will  cost  many  millions  of  dollars 
and   a   vast   amount   of    labor,   but   the    great 


THE   MONROE   DOCTRINE  1 79 

advantage  it  would  be  to  commerce  would 
repay  all  the  cost.  The  present  settled  con- 
viction of  the  American  people  is  that  any 
such  canal  between  the  two  Americas  should 
be  and  must  be  controlled  by  the  United  States  ; 
and  this  conviction  is  an  outgrowth  of  the  gen- 
eral acceptance  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 

Cuba  and  Mexico 

Cuba,  the  "  Gem  of  the  Antilles,"  is  an  island 
of  exceedingly  fertile  soil,  and  is  about  the  size 
of  the  State  of  Tennessee.  When  the  other 
Spanish-American  colonies  rebelled  against  the 
mother  country  and  won  their  independence, 
Cuba  remained  faithful,  and  has  ever  since 
been  considered  the  most  valuable  colonial 
possession  of  Spain.  But  Spain  has  been 
wofully  deficient  in  her  government  of  the 
island,  and  its  history  for  many  years  has 
been  the  history  of  disorder  and  rebellion. 

Within  two  years  after  the  first  promulga- 
tion of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  it  was  applied 
in  the  case  of  Cuba.  In  1825  a  French  fleet 
appeared  among  the  West  India  Islands,  and 
it  was   believed   that   France   had   designs   on 


I  So     SIDE  LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Cuba;  whereupon  Henry  Clay,  the  secretary 
of  state,  immediately  wrote  our  minister  at 
Paris  that,  while  the  United  States  was  not 
disposed  to  interfere  with  the  Spanish  pos- 
session of  the  island,  under  no  consideration 
could  we  permit  any  other  nation  to  gain  con- 
trol of  it.  The  French  government  disavowed 
any  intention  of  such  an  object,  and  practically 
concurred  with  Mr.  Clay's  views  concerning  the 
possession  of  the  island. 

President  Polk  in  1848  directed  our  minister 
at  Madrid  to  ascertain  if  Spain  would  sell 
the  island ;  but  the  reply  received  was  that 
the  people  of  Spain,  rather  than  see  the 
island  transferred  to  any  other  nation,  would 
prefer  to  see  it  sunk  into  the  ocean. 

In  1850  an  adventurer  named  Narcisco 
Lopez  fitted  out  an  expedition  in  the  United 
States  for  the  purpose  of  attacking  Cuba.  He 
landed  on  the  island,  but  was  disappointed  in 
his  belief  that  the  Cubans  would  join  his 
standard  and  make  an  effort  to  wrest  the 
island  from  Spanish  dominion.  Lopez  was 
soon  driven  off,  and  the  next  year,  when 
engaged  in  a  similar  expedition  with  a  follow- 


THE   MONROE   DOCTRINE  l8l 

ing  of  about  five  hundred  men,  he  was  over- 
powered and  captured  with  his  entire  force. 
Most  of  the  leaders  were  put  to  death,  Lopez 
himself  being  garroted  in  the  public  square  of 
Havana.  It  was  afterward  found  that  Lopez 
had  been  abetted  and  furnished  money  by 
some  of  the  leading  men  of  the  South,  the 
object  being  to  annex  Cuba  to  this  country 
for  the  purpose  of  increasing  slave  territory. 
This  brought  forth  the  proposal  by  England  and 
France  of  a  tripartite  agreement  that  neither  of 
those  countries  nor  the  United  States  should 
ever  take  possession  of  Cuba.  But  this  was 
declined  by  the  United  States  on  the  ground 
that  Cuba  lies  right  at  our  doors,  commands 
the  approach  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  that 
the  United  States  in  signing  such  an  agreement 
would  be  sacrificing  a  great  deal  more  than 
either  of  the  other  countries ;  and  besides,  such 
an  agreement  would  be  entering  into  a  political 
alliance  contrary  to  American  practice. 

Next  followed  a  declaration  known  as  the 
Ostend  Manifesto.  This  was  made  by  our 
three  ministers1  at  London,  Paris,  and  Madrid 

1  James  Buchanan,  John  Y.  Mason,  and  Pierre  Soule. 


1 82      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN    HISTORY 

respectively.  They  met  at  Ostend,  Belgium, 
and  in  the  declaration  put  forth  they  stated 
that  Cuba  should  by  all  means  come  into  the 
possession  of  the  United  States.  The  ten 
years'  war  in  Cuba,  1868-1878,  and  the  later 
revolt  against  the  mother  country,  beginning 
in  February,  1895,  and  resulting  in  the  inter- 
vention by  the  United  States  and  our  conse- 
quent war  with  Spain,  do  not  come  under  a 
discussion  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 

The  political  turmoil  in  Mexico  during  the 
present  century  has  been  greater  even  than 
that  of  Cuba,  if  such  a  thing  is  possible. 
The  continual  strife  between  the  Liberal  party 
and  the  Church  party  actually  gave  rise  to 
thirty-six  forms  of  government  within  thirty- 
three  years  ! 1  In  1 860  three  European  coun- 
tries, Great  Britain,  France,  and  Spain,  decided 
on  armed  intervention  in  Mexico.  President 
Buchanan  in  his  last  annual  message  protested 
against  this,  and  recommended  the  employ- 
ment of  a  military  force  to  prevent  it.  But 
the  Civil  War  broke  out,  and  America  had 
enough  to  engage  its  full  attention  for  several 

1  Tucker's  "  Monroe  Doctrine,"  p.  92. 


THE   MONROE   DOCTRINE  1 83 

years.  Meantime  the  three  powers  proceeded 
to  land  an  army  in  Mexico ;  but  first  they 
signed  an  agreement  not  to  acquire  any  terri- 
tory for  themselves,  nor  to  dictate  any  form 
of  government  for  Mexico ;  their  only  object, 
they  said,  was  to  enforce  payment  of  their 
just  claims  upon  that  country.  Scarcely,  how- 
ever, had  the  armies  landed  when  it  was  dis- 
covered that  the  object  of  Napoleon  III., 
Emperor  of  France,  was,  in  violation  of  the 
agreement,  to  establish  an  empire  in  Mexico 
and  to  seat  the  Austrian  Prince  Maximilian 
on  the  throne.  England  and  Spain  instantly 
withdrew,  and  France  was  left  to  make  the 
conquest  alone.  As  this  progressed  Europe 
rejoiced  at  what  was  supposed  to  be  the  down- 
fall of  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  The  English 
Government,  which  had  now  come  to  hate  that 
doctrine,  joined  in  the  rejoicing.  Napoleon 
was  congratulated  for  doing  a  great  service 
for  the  world.  The  Westminster  Review  said; 
"  The  occupation  of  Mexico  is  the  extinction 
of  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  That  doctrine,  it 
must  be  owned,  is  both  absurd  and  arrogant 
in  theory  and  practice." 


1 84     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

But  they  reckoned  without  their  host.  The 
American  Civil  War  came  to  an  end ;  and  the 
United  States  Government  had  no  thought  of 
abandoning  the  principle  laid  down  by  Monroe. 
During  the  war  Napoleon  had  sought  to  have 
his  new  empire  recognized  by  this  country, 
but  Secretary  Seward  informed  him  in  the 
name  of  President  Lincoln  that  this  country 
favored  a  republican  form  of  government  in 
Mexico,  and  that  if  France  ignored  that 
American  sentiment,  she  would  but  prepare 
the  way  for  a  collision  between  that  country 
and  the  United  States.  Still  Napoleon  re- 
fused to  understand,  and  in  the  summer  of 
1865,  soon  after  the  surrender  of  Lee  at 
Appomattox,  the  President  sent  General  Sheri- 
dan to  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Grande  with  fifty 
thousand  veteran  troops.  Thus  for  the  first 
time  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was  backed  up  with 
an  army.  This  kind  of  argument  was  quite 
convincing  to  Napoleon,  and  the  result  was 
the  French  troops  were  all  withdrawn  within 
a  year. 

But  the  foolish  Maximilian  still  clung  to 
his  newly  acquired  throne.     He  was  now  with- 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  1 85 

out  an  army,  without  protection,  and  he  had 
not  won  the  hearts  of  his  new  subjects.  The 
Mexicans  soon  rose  against  him,  overpowered, 
and  took  him  captive.  He  was  condemned  by 
a  court-martial,  and  was  shot  to  death  in  1867. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  since  then  no 
European  power  has  attempted  the  conquest 
of  Mexico. 

Venezuela 

The  application  a  few  years  ago  of  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  to  the  Venezuelan  boundary 
dispute  is  still  fresh  in  the  memory  of  all. 
Never  before  in  our  history  had  its  applica- 
tion caused  such  a  profound  sensation  through- 
out the  world.  Never  before  were  the  Powers 
of  Europe  so  thoroughly,  so  suddenly,  convinced 
that  the  old  doctrine  is  a  living  thing,  and 
that  the  determination  of  the  American  people 
is  to  stand  by  it  at  all  hazards. 

The  boundary  dispute  between  Venezuela 
and  British  Guiana  had  been  pending  for 
more  than  half  a  century.  In  1840  a  botanist 
and  surveyor  named  Schomburgk,  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  British  Government,  made  a  survey 


1 86     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

of  the  valley  of  the  Essequibo  River,  and 
claimed  the  entire  basin  of  the  river  for  Eng- 
land. Against  this  Schomburgk  line,  as  it 
was  called,  Venezuela  made  an  earnest  pro- 
test. A  few  years  later  Lord  Aberdeen  con- 
sented to  a  new  boundary  line  less  pretentious 
than  the  former;  and  in  1850  the  two  coun- 
tries agreed  not  to  occupy  nor  encroach  upon 
the  disputed  territory.  For  many  years  after 
this  agreement  had  been  made  the  boundary 
dispute  was  left  to  slumber.  In  1876  the 
subject  was  again  brought  up,  and  Venezuela 
offered  to  accept  a  compromise  line;  but  the 
British  Government  now  took  the  ground  that 
the  disputed  territory  belonged  to  that  country 
alone  "  by  virtue  of  ancient  treaties  with  the 
native  races."  These  "  native  races "  are 
supposed  to  have  been  Indian  tribes  which  had 
no  right  to  make  any  such  treaties;  and  fur- 
ther, England  had  not  owned  the  colony  pre- 
vious to  18 14,  when  it  was  received  from 
Holland.  How  then  could  there  be  "ancient 
treaties "  brought  forth  to  settle  the  dispute  ? 
Venezuela  now  offered  to  accept  the  line 
offered  by  Lord  Aberdeen  in   1844,  but  Eng- 


THE   MONROE   DOCTRINE  1 87 

land  claimed  that  so  many  British  subjects 
had  settled  in  the  disputed  territory  that  it 
was  impossible  to  deprive  them  of  the  benefits 
of  British  rule.  Great  Britain  betrayed  the 
weakness  of  her  claim  by  refusing  Venez- 
uela's offer  to  leave  the  whole  matter  to 
arbitration.  All  diplomatic  relations  were 
broken  off  between  the  two  countries  in  1887, 
and  this  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  in 
1895  the  United  States  decided  to  interfere. 

Nothing  was  plainer  than  that  the  English 
Government,  regarding  Venezuela  too  weak  to 
successfully  resist,  had  decided  to  seize  part  of 
the  latter's  territory.  This  was  a  palpable 
infraction  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  The  terri- 
tory in  dispute  comprised  one  hundred  and  nine 
thousand  square  miles  —  a  tract  larger  than  all 
the  New  England  States  combined.  Thus 
matters  stood  when  in  1895  Mr.  Olney,  secre- 
tary of  state  under  Cleveland,  wrote  Lord 
Salisbury  through  our  minister  at  London  that 
the  American  Government  was  unwilling  to 
stand  by  and  see  Venezuela  despoiled  of  her 
territory,  that  in  accordance  with  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  we  must  insist  on   arbitration.      The 


1 88     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

reply  of  Salisbury  was  a  stunning  one.  He 
boldly  asserted  that  he  did  not  accept  the 
Monroe  Doctrine,  that  "no  statesman,  however 
eminent,  and  no  nation,  however  powerful,  are 
competent  to  insert  so  novel  a  principle  into 
the  code  of  international  law." 

This  could  not  be  misunderstood.  A  crisis  was 
at  hand,  a  supreme  test  of  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine. America  must  back  down  and  abandon 
its  time-honored  doctrine,  its  championship  of 
republican  government,  of  human  rights,  or 
make  a  defiant  stand  against  the  British 
Empire. 

Would  the  two  great  Anglo-Saxon  nations  of 
the  world  go  to  war  over  so  trifling  a  matter 
as  a  little  boundary  dispute  in  South  America  ? 
How  could  the  United  States  justify  itself  for 
the  vast  sacrifice  of  men  and  treasure  that  a 
war  with  so  great  a  nation  would  occasion  ? 
And,  further,  the  Venezuelans  are  scarcely 
capable  of  self-government,  nor  are  we  so 
nearly  related  to  them  as  to  the  English.  Why 
should  we  take  any  such  stand  in  the  matter  ? 

The  fact  is  there  was  a  principle  at  stake. 
Had  we  yielded  in  that  crisis,  we  would  have 


THE   MONROE   DOCTRINE  189 

thereby  abandoned  our  time-honored  Monroe 
Doctrine.  The  New  World  would  have  thus 
been  reopened  to  European  colonization,  and 
no  one  could  foretell  what  might  have  been  the 
final  result.  It  would  probably  have  been  the 
beginning  of  the  end  of  popular  self-government 
in  Central  and  South  America.  Our  people 
were  almost  unanimous  in  their  determination 
to  maintain  our  cherished  doctrine  at  any  cost, 
and  our  President  was  equal  to  the  occasion. 
It  was  on  December  17,  1895,  that  President 
Cleveland  startled  the  world  with  his  famous 
message  to  Congress.  In  that  message  the 
President  speaks  thus  of  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine :  "  It  was  intended  to  apply  to  every 
stage  of  our  national  life,  and  cannot  become 
obsolete  while  our  Republic  endures."  This 
was  investing  the  doctrine  with  a  permanence 
by  an  authority  equal  to  that  which  first 
proclaimed  it.  A  European  power  was  plainly 
trying  to  extend  her  system  of  government  on 
this  continent,  and  this  Monroe  had  pronounced 
"dangerous  to  our  peace  and  safety."  Cleve- 
land's message  continues  :  "  Having  labored 
faithfully    for    many   years    to    induce    Great 


190     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Britain  to  submit  this  dispute  to  impartial 
arbitration,  and  having  been  now  finally  ap- 
prised of  her  refusal  to  do  so,  nothing  remains 
but  to  accept  the  situation."  The  President 
then  proposes  that  a  commission  be  appointed 
to  ascertain  the  rightful  boundary  between 
British  Guiana  and  Venezuela,  and  to  report 
the  same  to  Congress.  He  then  continues : 
"When  such  report  is  made  and  accepted,  it 
will,  in  my  opinion,  be  the  duty  of  the  United 
States  to  resist  by  every  means  in  its  power  " 
the  wilful  aggression  and  appropriation  of  lands 
by  Great  Britain,  which  we  have  determined  of 
right  belong  to  Venezuela. 

This  message  was  unequivocal;  none  could 
mistake  its  meaning.  England  was  startled  at 
its  suddenness,  its  positive  tone,  and  still 
more  at  the  unanimity  of  the  support  given 
it  by  the  people.  It  was  said  in  Europe  that 
Great  Britain  had  not  received  such  a  back- 
setting in  a  hundred  years.  Congress  forgot  its 
party  differences  and  voted  without  debate  and 
without  division  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  commission  to  be 
appointed.     But  to  the  joy  of  all,  the   British 


THE   MONROE  DOCTRINE 


IQI 


Government  receded  from  its  position,  left  the 
disputed  boundary  to  arbitration,  and  all  danger 
of  hostilities  soon  passed  away.  It  is  safe  to 
say  that  the  Monroe  Doctrine  is  now  more 
deeply  imbedded  in  the  American  heart  than 
ever  before,  and  there  is  little  donbt  that  it 
will  be  a  long  time  before  any  European  power 
will  again  attempt  to  trample  it  under  foot. 

Remarks  on  the  Monroe  Doctrine 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  has  a  twofold  object: 
first,  it  guards  against  that  which  may  be 
"  dangerous  to  our  peace  and  safety"  namely, 
European  encroachment  on  American  soil ;  and 
second,  it  protects  democratic  government  in  the 
Western  Hemisphere.  Both  find  a  ready  re- 
sponse in  the  liberty-loving  hearts  of  the 
American  people.  What  the  Balance  of  Power 
is  to  the  Old  World  the  Monroe  Doctrine  is  to 
the  New.  This  doctrine  is  not  a  part  of  inter- 
national law,  nor  has  it  even  been  placed 
upon  the  statutes  in  our  own  country.  Three 
times  was  the  attempt  made  to  have  Congress 
give  it  legal  sanction.  In  1824,  Henry  Clay 
sought  to  have  Congress  sanction  what  Monroe 


192     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

had  said  the  year  before.  Again  in  1879,  and 
still  again  in  1880,  similar  attempts  were  made; 
but  in  each  case,  for  partisan  or  other  reason, 
it  failed  of  passage. 

An  act  of  Congress,  however,  would  give 
little  additional  value  to  the  doctrine.  It  is 
the  business  of  Congress  to  carry  out  the 
policies  of  the  people,  not  to  shape  them. 
President  Monroe  was  not  the  author  of  the 
doctrine  that  bears  his  name ;  he  simply 
voiced  the  sentiment  of  the  people,  and  the 
people  are  supreme  in  this  Government.  The 
Monroe  Doctrine  is,  therefore,  not  a  law;  it  is 
a  fact,  it  is  a  declaration  of  an  attitude  taken 
by  this  Government  with  reference  to  the  re- 
lations of  European  Powers  to  the  republics 
of  this  hemisphere. 

The  question  is  sometimes  asked  :  What  right 
have  we  to  take  such  a  stand  in  this  matter  ? 
Surely  as  much  right  as  Europe  has  to  maintain 
the  Balance  of  Power  —  as  much  right  as  the 
European  nations  had  to  interfere  in  the  recent 
Graeco-Turkish  War.-  The  Monroe  Doctrine 
will  stand  as  long  as  the  American  people  have 
the  power  and  the  inclination  to  maintain  k. 


'X 


CHAPTER  X 

Lafayette's  Visit 

The  visit  of  General  Lafayette  to  the 
United  States  in  1824,  nearly  half  a  century 
after  he  had  so  generously  aided  the  strug- 
gling colonies  to  win  their  freedom,  was  a 
memorable  event,  and  has  scarcely  a  parallel 
in  history.  During  the  darkest  hours  of  the 
Revolution,  when  the  patriot  cause  seemed 
waning,  and  only  the  most  sanguine  could 
discern  the  coming  dawn,  this  young  noble- 
man had  left  his  home  of  luxury  and  royal 
favor  to  offer  his  life  and  his  fortunes  to  the 
holy  cause  of  liberty.  The  chief  motive  of 
the  French  Government  in  rendering  assist- 
ance to  America  in  that  struggle  was  not  the 
noblest  of  motives  —  it  was  largely  a  dislike 
of  England.  But  this  cannot  be  said  of  La- 
fayette. However  he  may  have  disliked  Eng- 
land, his  true  motive  in  coming  arose  from  his 
o  193 


194     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

inborn  love  of  liberty.  After  suffering  the 
hardships  of  colonial  warfare  for  several 
years,  commanding  armies  as  a  major-gen- 
eral, living  in  the  closest  intimacy  with  Wash- 
ington, whom  he  loved  as  a  father,  and  being 
present  at  last  when  Cornwallis  surrendered 
his  army,  this  doughty  Frenchman,  still  in  the 
ardor  of  youth,  returned  to  his  native  land 
feeling  that  he  had  struck  an  effective  blow 
in  the  cause  of  freedom.  He  soon  became 
one  of  the  most  prominent  national  figures  in 
his  native  land,  and  spent  most  of  his  long 
life  in  the  turmoils  of  French  politics.  He 
was  in  the  midst  of  the  storm  when  the  Rev- 
olution swept  the  French  dynasty  from  the 
throne ;  five  years  he  spent  in  an  Austrian 
prison.  He  often  said  that  he  was  not  only  a 
Frenchman,  but  also  an  American  citizen.  He 
has  been  called  the  man  of  two  worlds,  and 
he  deserved  above  all  men  to  be  so  called. 

Vast  changes  had  taken  place  in  America 
since  the  close  of  the  war  for  independence. 
The  Republic  was  no  longer  an  experiment ; 
it  had  now  taken  its  place  among  the  great 
nations  of  the  world.     The  tide  of  emigration 


LAFAYETTE'S   VISIT  1 95 

had  swept  over  the  Appalachian  Mountains 
and  taken  possession  of  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley; and  beyond  the  Father  of  Waters,  a  ter- 
ritory of  unknown  bounds  had  been  added 
to  the  public  domain  and  awaited  the  com- 
ing of  the  pioneer.  It  was  upon  this  new 
America  that  the  eyes  of  the  aged  Lafayette 
rested  when  he  made  this  final  visit  to  the 
land  which  he  had  so  loved  in  his  youth. 
But  he  came  not  as  a  stranger  to  a  land  of 
strangers;  he  came  as  a  friend,  as  a  brother, 
to  revisit  a  people  whom,  in  his  long  absence, 
he  had  never  ceased  to  love. 

A  Nation's    Welcome. 

The  joyful  welcome,  the  universal  homage, 
with  which  General  Lafayette  was  received 
by  the  American  people  have  never  been 
equalled  before  nor  since  in  our  history.  The 
few  remaining  soldiers  of  the  Revolution,  now 
tottering  with  age,  gathered  around  him,  and 
their  eyes  were  bathed  in  tears  as  they  beheld 
his  benignant  face  and  recalled  the  memories 
of  the  past.  Men  and  women,  youths  and 
maidens,  left  their  homes  and  hastened  to  the 


196     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

cities  which  he  visited  to  look  upon  the  coun- 
tenance of  this  hero  of  a  past  generation,  and 
to  join  in  the  universal  shout  of  welcome. 

Lafayette  had  been  cordially  invited  to 
visit  our  country,  and  he  -expected  a  warm 
welcome ;  but  he  had  not  counted  on  such 
an  unreserved  outburst  of  joyful  acclamation 
from  the  whole  people.  He  had  expected  to 
land  quietly  and  engage  private  lodgings ;  but 
when  he  found  that  he  was  to  be  a  public 
guest,  that  the  people  had  made  the  most 
elaborate  preparations  to  do  him  honor,  he 
was  overcome  with  emotion.  His  eyes  flowed 
with  tears,  and,  pressing  both  hands  upon  his 
heart,  he  exclaimed,  "It  will  burst."1 

Declining  a  public  ship,  he  came  as  a  pas- 
senger on  the  Cadmus,  accompanied  by  his 
son,  George  Washington  Lafayette,  and  by 
his  private  secretary.  He  landed  at  Staten 
Island  in  New  York  harbor  on  August  15, 
1824,  and  repaired  to  the  residence  of  Vice- 
President  Tompkins,  where  he  spent  the 
night.2     Next  day  a  company  of  ships,  gayly 

1  Schouler's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  Vol.  III.  p.  320. 

2  JViles's  Register,  August,  1 824. 


LAFAYETTE'S  VISIT  1 97 

decked  with  flags  and  streamers,  and  bearing 
six  thousand  citizens,  came  to  escort  him  to 
the  city.  His  arrival  was  announced  by  the 
boom  of  cannon  and  by  the  wildest  acclama- 
tions of  joy  that  a  grateful  people  could  be- 
stow. The  most  interesting  occurrence  was 
the  meeting  of  Lafayette  with  his  old  com- 
panions in  arms.  The  main  ceremonies  over, 
he  sat  down  with  Colonel  Willet,  a  veteran, 
now  in  his  eighty-fifth  year,  with  whom  he 
had  spent  many  a  day  in  camp  and  on  the 
battle-field.  The  two  venerable  heroes  talked 
over  Revolutionary  scenes,  recalling  many  in- 
cidents that  both  remembered.  In  the  even- 
ing Lafayette  went  outside  his  hotel  and 
shook  hands  with  about  seven  hundred  boys 
and  girls,  who  had  gathered  around  hoping 
to  get  a  glimpse  of  him. 

After  a  few  days  of  festivity  in  New  York, 
the  nation's  guest  proceeded  to  Boston,  where 
he  found  the  same  enthusiastic  spirit  of  wel- 
come. He  reached  Boston  on  August  the  24th, 
and  was  driven  in  an  open  barouche  drawn 
by  four  white  horses  through  the  principal 
streets.      The   city  was   crowded   with   a   vast 


198      SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

throng  of  people,  and  their  shouts,  mingled 
with  the  sound  of  the  cannon  and  the  ringing 
of  bells,  welcomed  the  hero  of  the  hour.  An 
arch  across  Washington  Street  was  inscribed 
with  the  following  stanza,  written  by  Charles 
Sprague : — 

"  Our  fathers  in  glory  shall  sleep 

That  gathered  with  thee  to  the  fight ; 
But  their  sons  will  eternally  keep 
The  tablet  of  gratitude  bright. 
We  bow  not  the  neck  and  we  bow  not  the  knee, 
But  our  hearts,  Lafayette,  we  surrender  to  thee."  J 

Next  day  Lafayette  attended  the  commence- 
ment exercises  at  Harvard,  where  he  occupied 
the  seat  of  honor.  Here  it  was  that  Edward 
Everett  pronounced  one  of  his  matchless  eulo- 
gies, and  at  its  close  "  every  one  in  the  assem- 
bly was  in  tears."2 

By  the  middle  of  September  we  find  our 
national  guest  again  in  New  York.  In  Castle 
Garden  a  magnificent  banquet  was  given  in 
his  honor,  and  of  the  thousands  present,  every 
one  wore   a   badge    or   likeness   of    Lafayette. 

1  Quincy's  "  Figures  of  the  Past,"  p.  104. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  107. 


LAFAYETTE'S  VISIT  1 99 

made  for  the  occasion.  Here  are  a  few  de- 
scriptive words  from  the  New  York  Evening 
Post:  "We  hazard  nothing  in  saying  that  it 
was  the  most  magnificent  fete  given  under 
cover  in  the  world.  It  was  a  festival  that 
realizes  all  that  we  read  of  in  the  Persian 
tales  or  '  Arabian  Nights,'  which  dazzle  the 
eye  and  bewilder  the  imagination,  and  it  pro- 
duced so  many  powerful  combinations  by 
magnificent  preparations  as  to  set  descrip- 
tions   almost    at   defiance."1 

Lafayette's  reception  in  Philadelphia  was 
almost  if  not  fully  equal  to  that  accorded  him 
in  New  York  and  Boston.  It  is  needless  to 
recount  his  experiences  as  he  travelled  through 
the  land.  They  were  everywhere  similar  to 
those  described.  Great  crowds  gathered  to 
greet  him  in  every  city.  The  mayor  or  some 
other  noted  personage  would  receive  him  with 
an  address  of  welcome.  To  this  he  always 
made  a  short,  unstudied  reply,  and  never  failed 
to  say  just  the  right  thing.  The  weight  of 
years  sat  lightly  on  his  shoulders.  He  was 
a  fine  specimen  of  manhood,  six  feet  in  height, 

1  Quoted  by  Magazine  of  American  History,  December,  1887. 


200     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

muscular  and  graceful.  It  is  true  his  almost 
seventy  years  had  left  their  mark ;  his  hair, 
once  a  deep  red,  was  now  silvered,  and  the 
blithe  step  of  his  youth  was  gone;  but  his 
heart  was  ever  young,  his  vivacity,  his  good 
nature,  never  forsook  him. 

He  travelled  in  every  State  in  the  Union 
and  visited  all  the  larger  cities.  He  visited 
Albert  Gallatin  at  Prospect  Hill  near  Union- 
town,  Pennsylvania,  General  Jackson  at  the 
Hermitage  in  Tennessee,  and  the  aged  Jef- 
ferson at  Monticello.  His  progress  through 
the  States,  though  one  unbroken  ovation,  did 
not  in  the  least  turn  his  head ;  every  honor 
was  received  with  unfeigned  modesty  and  true 
democratic  simplicity.  Nothing  perhaps  in 
the  life  of  Lafayette  displayed  better  his 
true  character  than  the  way  in  which  he  re- 
ceived the  homage  of  the  Nation. 

At  the  Capitol 

General  Lafayette  spent  most  of  the  fol- 
lowing winter  in  Washington.  On  his  enter- 
ing the  House  of  Representatives  the  members 
arose,   and   one  of   his  escort  introduced  him, 


LAFAYETTE'S   VISIT  201 

after  which  he  was  escorted  to  a  sofa  placed 
in  the  centre  of  the  hall  for  his  reception. 
Speaker  Henry  Clay  then  pronounced  an 
appropriate  welcome,  in  which  he  feelingly 
referred  to  the  Revolutionary  experience  of 
their  distinguished  guest,  and  especially  to 
his  intimate  relations  with  the  illustrious 
Washington.  Lafayette  replied  in  an  equally 
appropriate  speech,  after  which  the  House 
adjourned,  and  Mr.  Clay  introduced  to  him 
the  members  individually. 

Frequently  during  the  winter  the  general 
visited  the  House  and  listened  to  the  debates. 
It  was  a  famous  session  of  Congress.  The 
electoral  college  had  failed  to  choose  a  Presi- 
dent,1 and  for  the  second  time  in  our  history, 
and  last  thus  far,  that  duty  devolved  upon 
the  House.  Party  passion  ran  so  high  among 
the  followers  of  the  four  candidates  that  there 
might  have  been  disgraceful  scenes  but  for 
the  presence  of  Lafayette.  No  member  could 
forget  his  decorum  in  the  presence  of  their 
honored  guest  from  abroad. 

1  In  the  electoral  college,  Jackson  had  received  99  votes, 
Adams  84,  Crawford  41,  and  Clay  37. 


202      SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Our  Congress  did  one  thing  that  winter 
that  the  whole  Nation  applauded.  It  voted 
Lafayette  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  and 
a  township  of  land  in  Florida,  not  as  a  gift, 
but  as  a  partial  payment  for  his  Revolutionary 
services.  The  general  was  taken  wholly  by 
surprise.  He  could  not,  however,  refuse  so 
generous  a  gift ;  and  it  came  good  indeed  in 
the  remaining  nine  years  of  his  life,  for  he  had 
lost  his  fortune  during  the  various  changes 
of  the  French  Government. 

One  day,  when  driving  in  the  carriage  with 
President  Adams,  Lafayette  was  amused  at 
the  following  incident :  As  they  were  crossing 
the  bridge  over  the  Potomac  River,  the  toll- 
gatherer,  after  counting  the  horses  and  per- 
sons in  the  party,  informed  the  President  how 
much  the  toll  was,  and  the  latter  handed  him 
the  amount.  As  the  party  started  the  toll- 
gatherer  recognized  General  Lafayette,  and 
called  to  the  President,  offering  to  return  the 
amount  of  the  toll,  saying,  "  All  bridges  and 
all  gates  are  free  to  the  guest  of  the  Nation." 
Lafayette  thought  this  a  remarkable  illustra- 
tion of  the   equality  and  the   democratic   sim- 


LAFAYETTE'S   VISIT  203 

plicity  of  the  people.  In  Europe  the  head  of 
the  nation  finds  all  gates  and  bridges  free, 
while  here  only  the  guest  has  a  free  pass; 
the  President  pays  his  toll  among  the  rest. 

Mount  Vernon  and  Bunker  Hill 

The  most  touching  scene  in  this  memorable 
tour  of  Lafayette  was  his  visit  to  the  tomb 
of  Washington.  This  we  can  best  describe 
in  the  words  of  his  private  secretary,  M.  Le- 
vasseur :  — 

"  Leaving  Washington  and  descending  the 
Potomac,  after  a  voyage  of  two  hours,  the 
guns  of  Fort  Washington  announced  that  we 
were  approaching  the  last  abode  of  the  Father 
of  his  Country.  At  this  solemn  signal,  to 
which  the  military  band  accompanying  us 
responded  by  plaintive  strains,  we  went  on 
deck,  and  the  venerable  soil  of  Mount  Vernon 
was  before  us :  at  this  view,  an  involuntary 
and  spontaneous  movement  made  us  kneel. 
We  landed  in  boats  and  trod  upon  the  ground 
so  often  worn  by  the  feet  of  Washington.  A 
carriage  received  Lafayette,  and  the  other 
visitors  silently  ascended  the  precipitous  path 


204     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

which  conducted  to  the  solitary  habitation  of 
Mount  Vernon. 

"Three  nephews  of  General  Washington 
took  Lafayette,  his  son,  and  myself,  to  conduct 
us  to  the  tomb  of  their  uncle ;  ...  in  a  few 
minutes  the  cannon  of  the  fort,  thundering 
anew,  announced  that  Lafayette  rendered 
homage  to  the  ashes  of  Washington.  .  .  .  As 
we  approached,  the  door  was  opened,  Lafay- 
ette descended  alone  into  the  vault,  and  a  few 
minutes  after  reappeared  with  his  eyes  over- 
flowing with  tears.  He  took  his  son  and  me 
by  the  hand,  and  led  us  into  the  tomb,  where 
by  a  sign  he  indicated  the  coffin  of  his  paternal 
friend.  .  .  .  We  knelt  reverently  near  the 
coffin,  which  we  respectfully  saluted  with  our 
lips,  and  rising,  threw  ourselves  into  the  arms 
of  Lafayette,  and  mingled  our  tears  with  his." 

Next  to  the  visit  of  Lafayette  to  Washing- 
ton's tomb  the  most  interesting  incident  of 
his  sojourn  was  his  attendance  on  the  cere- 
monies of  laying  the  corner-stone  of  the 
Bunker  Hill  monument.  His  second  visit  to 
Boston  took  place  in  midsummer,  1825,  and 
the   corner-stone   of    the    monument   was   laid 


LAFAYETTE'S   VISIT  205 

on  the  seventeenth  of  June  —  exactly  fifty 
years  after  the  famous  battle  had  occurred. 
Lafayette  had  arrived  a  few  days  before,  and 
was  the  chief  guest  of  the  occasion.  He  had 
said  that  Bunker  Hill  was  the  pole  star  on 
which  his  eyes  had  been  fixed,  and  he  rejoiced 
in  the  prospect  of  assisting  at  the  jubilee.  It 
was  a  gala  day  for  Boston.  Never  before  had 
so  many  people  been  packed  into  the  city. 
"  Everything  that  had  wheels  and  everything 
that  had  legs  used  them  to  get  to  Boston."  * 

The  roar  of  cannon  announced  the  dawn 
of  that  beautiful  day  in  June;  long  before 
the  procession  of  notables  arrived,  the  hill  was 
covered  with  a  solid  mass  of  people.  From 
this  mass  arose  cheer  on  cheer  as  the  pro- 
cession moved  through  the  crowd.  Then 
followed  the  introduction  severally  of  the  sur- 
vivors of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  to  the 
distinguished  visitor  from  France.  This  pleas- 
ant duty  fell  upon  young  Josiah  Quincy,  chief 
of  Governor  Lincoln's  staff.  But  there  were 
only  a  few  of  the  venerable  survivors  of  the 
battle    remaining.     All    the   officers   had   been 

1Quincy's  "Figures  of  the  Past,"   130. 


206     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN    HISTORY 

called  to  their  silent  home  save  one,  a  cap- 
tain named  Clark,  now  bending  beneath  his 
ninety-five  years. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  most  impressive  ser- 
vice of  the  day  was  the  prayer  offered  by  the 
aged  Reverend  Joseph  Thaxter.  Fifty  years 
before,  in  the  morning  before  the  battle,  this 
same  man,  then  Prescott's  chaplain,  had  stood 
on  this  same  spot  and  invoked  the  blessing  of 
God  upon  the  patriot  cause.  Now,  in  his  old 
age,  he  is  again  permitted  to  stand  in  the  midst 
of  this  joyous  throng,  and  to  render  the  same 
sacred  service  in  behalf  of  a  great  and  growing 
nation. 

After  laying  the  corner-stone  with  his  own 
hands,  Lafayette  positively  refused  to  take  the 
seat  prepared  for  him  under  the  pavilion. 
"  No,"  said  he,  "  I  belong  there,  among  the  sur- 
vivors of  the  Revolution,  and  there  I  must  sit."  1 
And  so  he  sat  among  the  veterans,  with  noth- 
ing to  shelter  him  from  the  scorching  sun.  The 
address  of  the  day  was  made  by  Daniel  Web- 
ster, then  in  the  prime  of  his  young  manhood. 
He  has  been  described  as  "the  front  of  Jove 

1  "Figures  of  the  Past,"  p.  131. 


LAFAYETTE'S   VISIT  207 

himself ;  an  eye  like  Mars,  ready  to  command," 
when  he  stepped  forth  to  deliver  his  oration. 
Webster  is  considered  the  greatest  of  Ameri- 
can orators,  and  his  oration  on  this  day  is 
numbered  among  the  best  of  his  life. 

Lafayette  returned  from  Boston  to  Washing- 
ton, and,  thence,  on  September  the  8th,  took 
his  final  departure  in  the  Brandywine  for  his 
native  land.  The  farewell  address,  pronounced 
by  President  Adams,  is  one  of  the  most  felici- 
tous and  appropriate  of  its  kind  in  the  English 
language.  Lafayette  had  spent  almost  thirteen 
months  in  America,  and  the  royal  welcome  he 
had  received  did  much  to  disprove  the  saying 
that  republics  are  ungrateful.  At  various  times 
have  noted  foreigners,  coming  to  our  shores, 
received  the  hearty  plaudits  of  the  people,  but 
no  other  has  received  such  a  welcome  as  that 
given  Lafayette.  And  can  such  a  thing  occur 
again  ?  Have  not  the  conditions  that  produced 
it  passed  away  ?  Perhaps  the  time  may  never 
come  again  when  a  foreigner  coming  to  our 
country  will  be  welcomed  with  the  homage 
of  the  whole  Nation,  as  was  this  hero  of  the 
Revolution,  this  friend  of  liberty,  Lafayette. 


CHAPTER  XI 

The  Caroline  Affair1 

To  show  how  an  apparently  trifling  matter 
may  disturb  the  friendly  relations  between  two 
great  nations,  and  bring  them  to  the  verge  of 
war ;  to  reveal  a  feature  of  weakness  in  our 
dual  system  of  government,  State  and  National, 
as  regards  our  foreign  relations  ;  and  to  illus- 
trate that  the  public  mind  may  be  thoroughly 
agitated  over  a  subject  and  forget  all  about  it 
within  a  few  years,  — no  better  example  can  be 
found  than  that  known  in  our  history  as  "  The 
Caroline  Affair."  Few  of  our  citizens  to-day, 
if  asked  about  the  Caroline  Affair,  could  give 
any  intelligent  account  of  it,  and  the  majority 
could  not  even  tell  what  it  was ;  while  during 
the  year  of  1838,  and  for  several  years  follow- 
ing, it  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  subjects 

1  For  the  facts  related  in  this  chapter  I  am  largely  indebted 
to  Benton's  "  Thirty  Years'  View." 

"X)8 


THE  CAROLINE  AFFAIR  209 

before  the  American  public.  It  was  brought 
about  by  an  insurrection  in  Canada,  and  the 
dispute  it  occasioned  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain  became  quite  serious,  and 
extended  over  several  years. 

The  Canadian   Rebellion 

There  had  been  for  many  years  previous  to 
1837  serious  differences  in  both  Upper  and 
Lower  Canada,  between  the  popular  and  loyal- 
ist parties.  •  In  the  latter  part  of  that  year  an 
open  insurrection  broke  out  against  the  Gov- 
ernment, then  in  the  hands  of  the  loyalists,  or 
British  party,  as  they  were  called.  The  discon- 
tent had  its  origin  in  the  concentration  of  the 
Government  into  the  hands  of  a  few  great 
families,  the  misuse  of  public  funds,  and  the 
setting  apart  of  certain  tracts  of  land  for  the 
benefit  of  the  clergy.  The  immediate  cause  of 
the  uprising  was  the  refusal  of  the  Assembly  to 
appropriate  money  to  pay  the  public  officials, 
and  the  carrying  through  the  English  House  of 
Commons,  by  Lord  John  Russell,  a  series  of 
resolutions,  rejecting  the  demand  for  an  elective 
legislative  council. 


2IO     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

The  leader  of  the  revolt  in  Upper  Canada 
was  William  Lyon  MacKenzie,  a  Scotchman, 
an  editor  of  Toronto,  and  first  mayor  of  that 
city  after  its  name  was  changed  from  York. 
He  was  a  man  of  much  ability,  but  rash,  and 
wanting  in  tact;  he  was  an  intense  hater  of 
toryism  in  every  form.  The  leader  in  Lower 
Canada  was  Louis  J.  Papinau,  a  member  of 
the  Assembly  from  Montreal.  Papinau  was 
a  man  of  energy  and  courage,  nor  could  any 
one  question  his  honesty.  Neither  of  these 
men  could  be  accused  of  sinister  motives  nor 
of  selfish  ambition.  They  fully  believed  that 
the  only  remedy  for  the  evils  in  the  Govern- 
ment was  an  appeal  to  arms.  The  insurgents 
called  themselves  "patriots,"  and  their  avowed 
object  was  to  break  away  from  English  rule 
and  to  set  up  a  republic  in  Canada. 

The  rebellion  found  many  sympathizers  in 
the  United  States.  All  along  our  northern 
border  from  Vermont  to  Michigan  there  was 
great  excitement.  Men  assembled  and  formed 
themselves  into  companies  and  battalions,  and 
chose  officers,  intending  to  march  into  Canada 
to  aid  the  patriots. 


THE  CAROLINE   AFFAIR  211 

When  President  Van  Buren  became  aware 
of  these  proceedings,  he  issued  a  proclama- 
tion commanding  all  citizens  to  abstain  from 
taking  part  in  such  illegal  acts,  and  threaten- 
ing the  guilty  with  the  utmost  penalty  of  the 
law.  He  stated  that,  as  the  United  States 
enjoyed  the  most  friendly  relations  with  Great 
Britain,  our  citizens  must  not  disturb  those 
relations  by  abetting  or  aiding  an  insurrection 
in  her  colony.  The  President  did  still  more ; 
he  called  upon  the  governors  of  the  border 
States  to  assist  in  suppressing  all  illegal 
movements,  which  they  did;  he  sent  General 
Winneld  Scott  with  a  body  of  troops  to  the 
frontier,  and  he  chartered  several  steamboats 
on  Lake  Erie,  manned  them  with  soldiers, 
and  set  them  to  guard  against  all  offenders. 
Nevertheless,  a  considerable  number  of  Ameri- 
cans succeeded  in  crossing  into  Canada  and 
joining  the  insurgents. 

The  rebellion  was  not  a  great  one,  and 
in  a  few  weeks  after  the  first  outbreak  it 
was  suppressed.  Sir  John  Colborne  with  an 
army  of  regulars  appeared  against  the  rebels, 
and   after   a    few    sharp    skirmishes   in    which 


212      SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

something  over  a  hundred  were  killed,  suc- 
ceeded in  dispersing  them.  Many  laid  down 
their  arms  and  gave  up  the  struggle ;  others 
fled  across  the  border  into  New  York.  The  dis- 
content in  Canada  was  widespread,  it  is  true, 
but  the  revolt  failed  for  want  of  leadership, 
neither  MacKenzie  nor  Papinau  proving  suc- 
cessful as  military  leaders.  The  movement 
would  scarcely  be  remembered  in  history  but 
for  an  occurrence  that  immediately  gave  it 
international  importance,  and  was  henceforth 
known  as  the  Caroline  Affair. 

Destruction  of  the  Caroline 

The  Caroline  was  a  small  steamboat  on 
Lake  Erie,  and  was  owned  by  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States.  She  was  employed  in  illegal 
traffic  with  the  Canadian  insurgents  on  Navy 
Island.  This  island,  situated  in  the  Niagara 
River  above  the  falls,  had  become  the  rendez- 
vous of  a  body  of  rebels  to  the  number  of 
about  five  hundred  under  the  leadership  of 
MacKenzie.  They  had  been  beaten  and 
driven  from  the  mainland  by  the  regular 
troops,   and    had    here    taken    refuge    with    a 


THE  CAROLINE  AFFAIR  21 3 

view  of  collecting  materials  for  another  attack 
upon  the  enemy.  Opposite  Navy  Island,  near 
Chippewa,  Ontario,  several  thousand  Canadian 
troops  were  stationed  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  MacNab.  When  it  became  known  to 
MacNab  and  his  soldiers  that  the  Caroline 
was  carrying  men  and  supplies  to  the  rebels 
on  the  island,  they  determined  to  destroy  the 
vessel. 

The  night  of  December  29,  1837,  was  chosen 
for  the  exploit.  Colonel  MacNab  sent  Captain 
Drew  with  a  flotilla  of  five  boats  to  destroy  her. 
They  approached  silently  under  cover  of  dark- 
ness to  the  shore  of  Navy  Island,  where  the 
Caroline  had  been  seen  during  the  afternoon ; 
but  the  boat  was  not  there.  Captain  Drew 
was  unwilling  to  give  up  the  project  so 
readily,  and  without  authority  from  his  chief 
proceeded  to  cross  into  American  waters  in 
search  of  the  offending  steamer.  About  the 
hour  of  midnight  the  searching  party  found 
the  little  steamer  moored  to  the  shore  at  Fort 
Schlosser,  Grand  Island,  which  is  a  part  of 
the  territory  of  New  York.  The  officers  and 
crew  of  the  Caroline  consisted  of  but  ten  men. 


214     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

but  on  that  night  twenty-three  other  men,  who 
could  not  be  accommodated  at  the  neighboring 
inn,  had  found  lodging  on  board  the  vessel. 
Nearly  all  these  were  American  citizens. 

About  fifty  of  the  British  party,  well  armed, 
boarded  her  without  warning  to  the  occupants, 
most  of  whom  were  asleep  at  the  time.  The 
Americans  sprung  from  their  berths  and  grap- 
pled with  the  foe;  but  the  contest  was  an 
unequal  one,  and  in  a  very  few  minutes  the 
British  party  had  possession  of  the  boat,  after 
having  killed  one  man  and  wounding  several 
others.  The  victors  now  put  the  Americans 
ashore,  cut  the  vessel  from  her  moorings,  set 
her  on  fire  and  sent  her  burning  over  the  Falls 
of  Niagara.  Several  of  the  men  who  had 
gone  aboard  to  spend  the  night  were  after- 
ward missing,  and  it  was  believed  that  they 
were  still  on  board  the  burning  steamer  when 
she  leaped  over  the  cataract,  and  that  they 
found  a  watery  grave  in  the  depths  of  the 
dashing  river. 

The  news  of  the  destruction  of  the  Caroline, 
an  American  boat  in  American  waters  manned 
by  American   sailors,  spread  with  great  rapid- 


THE   CAROLINE   AFFAIR  21 5 

ity.  The  feelings  of  the  people  in  the  border 
States  were  inflamed  to  the  highest  degree.  Re- 
taliatory expeditions  were  immediately  planned, 
but  the  President  took  measures  to  repress 
them.  At  the  same  time  he  sent  a  message 
to  Congress  stating  that  a  hostile  invasion  had 
been  made  into  our  territory,  and  an  outrage 
of  the  most  aggravated  character  had  been 
committed  against  our  citizens.  He  also  in- 
formed them  that  an  immediate  demand  for 
reparation  would  be  made  upon  the  Govern- 
ment of  Great  Britain. 

The  feeling  in  Congress  was  scarcely  less 
intense  than  along  the  northern  border.  An 
act  was  immediately  passed  placing  large  mili- 
tary supplies  in  the  hands  of  the  President,  for 
the  protection  of  the  frontier;  while  his  deci- 
sion to  demand  redress  was  unanimously 
approved. 

Scarcely  a  week  had  passed  after  the  unfor- 
tunate occurrence,  when  Mr.  John  Forsyth, 
the  secretary  of  state,  addressed  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Fox,  the  English  minister  at  Washington, 
in  which  he  referred  to  the  invasion  of  our 
territory,  destruction  of  our  property    and  the 


2l6     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

assassination  of  American  citizens  at  a  time 
when  it  was  well  known  that  the  President 
was  doing  all  in  his  power  to  prevent  our 
people  from  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the 
insurgents.  The  British  Government  made 
no  reply  to  President  Van  Buren's  demand. 

The  destroyers  of  the  Caroline  disclaimed 
all  intention  to  invade  American  soil ;  they 
fully  expected  to  find  the  vessel  at  Navy 
Island,  which  belonged  to  Canadian  territory, 
where  she  had  been  seen  a  few  hours  before. 
The  boat  being  engaged  in  furnishing  sup- 
plies to  the  rebels,  was,  according  to  the  rules 
of  war,  subject  to  seizure  by  the  British.  It 
was,  therefore,  not  the  act  itself,  but  the  place 
in  which  it  was  done,  that  caused  all  the  trou- 
ble. On  this  ground  the  English  ministry 
justified  the  act  without  assuming  the  respon- 
sibility. Every  effort  of  our  minister  at  Lon- 
don to  bring  about  a  settlement  was  treated, 
not  perhaps  with  contempt,  but  with  a  dignified 
silence.  So  matters  continued  for  three  years, 
when,  near  the  close  of  Van  Buren's  adminis- 
tration, another  event  occurred  that  changed 
the   relative   position   of   the   two   countries  — 


THE  CAROLINE  AFFAIR  21 J 

the  United   States  was  put   on   the  defensive, 
and  Great  Britain  became  the  aggressor. 

Arrest  and  Trial  of  McLeod 

Alexander  McLeod  was  a  British  subject, 
a  resident  of  Ontario,  a  blustering  braggart 
of  no  importance  in  his  own  neighborhood 
nor  elsewhere ;  yet  this  man  became  the 
cause  of  the  most  serious  disturbance  between 
two  great  nations  —  the  United  States  of 
America  and  the  British  Empire. 

Three  years  had  passed  since  the  burning 
of  the  Caroline.  The  British  Government 
had  made  no  reparation  for  the  offence  and 
it  was  still  a  subject  of  general  discussion 
among  the  people;  but  no  one  believed  that 
war  was  likely  to  result,  however  the  ministry 
might  decide.  Alexander  McLeod  had  boasted 
that  he  was  of  the  party  that  had  destroyed 
the  Caroline,  and  that  he  had  himself  killed 
one  of  the  "Yankees."  He  appeared  on  the 
American  side,  and  repeated  his  foolish  boast, 
whereupon  he  was  instantly  arrested  and 
clapped  into  prison  on  a  charge  of  murder 
and  arson. 


2l8      SIDE   LIGHTS  ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

The  excitement  again  rose  to  the  highest 
pitch.  The  English  minister  at  Washington 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  President,  calling 
upon  him  to  take  steps  for  the  immediate 
release  of  McLeod,  taking  the  ground  that 
the  latter  if  guilty  was  only  acting  under 
authority,  and  was  not  personally  responsible 
for  what  had  been  done.  Mr.  Forsyth  in  a 
very  able  paper  stated  that  the  crime  had 
been  committed  on  the  soil  of  New  York  in 
time  of  peace  between  the  two  countries,  that 
the  whole  matter  of  personal  responsibility  of 
the  perpetrators  came  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  that  State,  nor  had  our  National  Govern- 
ment, under  our  dual  system,  any  power  to 
interfere  in  the  matter.  He  further  stated 
that  if  the  British  Government  had  assumed 
the  responsibility  of  destroying  the  Caroline, 
the  United  States  had  not  been  officially  in- 
formed of  the  fact. 

This  answer  of  Forsyth  plainly  exhibits  the 
weak  point  in  our  system.  Here  was  a  sub- 
ject of  a  foreign  power  indicted  for  violating 
the  laws  of  a  State  in  the  American  Union, 
and  the   State  has  no  foreign  relations  what- 


THE  CAROLINE  AFFAIR  219 

ever.1  Great  Britain  could  not,  therefore, 
treat  with  the  State  of  New  York;  she  must 
deal  with  the  United  States  Government 
alone.  But  the  United  States  Government 
has  no  power,  under  our  Constitution,  to  take 
a  case  at  common  law  out  of  the  hands  of  a 
State,  nor  to  interfere  in  any  way  with  con- 
stitutional State  laws. 

The  affair  had  assumed  a  serious  aspect, 
and  thus  it  remained  in  an  unsettled  condi- 
tion during  the  winter  of  1 840-1 841.  The 
official  term  of  Martin  Van  Buren  now  drew 
to  a  close,  and  William  Henry  Harrison  be- 
came President. 

No  sooner  had  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment changed  hands,  than  the  English  min- 
istry assumed  a  bolder  and  more  menacing 
tone.  The  followers  of  Van  Buren  were 
prompt  to  assert  that  England  had  avoided 
showing  her  true  colors  until  the  party  she 
feared  had  gone  out  of  power;  but  she  felt 
that  she  could  bully  the  new  administration 
as  she  chose.  Whether  the  change  of  admin- 
istration  had  anything  to  do  with-  the  matter 

1  See  Chapter  XVIII. 


220     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

we  are  unable  to  say,  but  it  is  a  fact  that  the 
change  of  attitude  in  the  British  ministry 
began  at  about  the  same  time. 

On  the  day  of  Mr.  Harrison's  inauguration 
a  rumor  gained  currency  through  the  capital 
city  that  the  British  Government  had  assumed 
the  destruction  of  the  Caroline.  One  week 
later  the  English  minister  addressed  a  com- 
munication to  Daniel  Webster,  the  new  sec- 
retary of  state,  demanding  in  the  name  of 
her  Majesty's  Government,  and  in  a  threaten- 
ing manner,  the  immediate  release  of  McLeod. 
It  was  learned  soon  after  that  English  ships 
were  being  sent  to  Halifax,  troops  were  land- 
ing in  Canada,  and  that  Lord  Palmerston  had 
openly  stated  in  Parliament  that  the  ministry 
had  assumed  the  act  of  destroying  the  Caro- 
line. The  London  newspapers  were  aflame 
with  threats  of  war. 

The  wisdom  of  the  British  ministry  in  wait- 
ing for  the  new  administration  to  come  in  be- 
fore assuming  its  threatening  attitude  seemed 
now  to  be  confirmed ;  for  Mr.  Webster,  in 
answering  Mr.  Fox,  stated  that  "the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  entertains  no  doubt 


THE    CAROLINE  AFFAIR  221 

of  the  asserted  British  principle,"  but  that 
McLeod,  being  in  the  hands  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  was  beyond  the  authority  of  the 
General  Government.  This  was  practically 
conceding  the  whole  matter.  After  such  a 
concession  from  such  an  authority,  the  only 
logical  thing  for  the  administration  to  do  was 
to  take  the  British  side,  and  to  use  its  efforts 
to  effect  the  release  of  the  prisoner  —  and  that 
is  precisely  what  it  did. 

Meantime  the  trial  of  McLeod  approached. 
The  administration  requested  the  New  York 
authorities  to  release  him  without  a  trial,  for 
the  sake  of  national  peace ;  but  this  they  re- 
fused to  do.  Every  means  was  now  employed 
by  the  Washington  Government  to  secure  the 
release  of  the  now  famous  prisoner.  It  is 
said  that  Mr.  Webster  exacted  a  secret  prom- 
ise from  Mr.  Seward,  New  York's  governor, 
to  pardon  McLeod  if  convicted.  Mr.  Critten- 
den, the  attorney-general  of  the  United  States, 
was  sent  by  the  President  to  the  scene  of  the 
trial  at  Lockport  to  use  his  efforts  for  acquittal. 

The  trial  was  conducted  with  the  utmost  fair- 
ness before  an  impartial  judge  and  jury,  — and 


222      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

how  ludicrous  it  all  turned  out !  It  was  proved 
at  the  trial  that  McLeod  had  no  part  in  the 
destruction  of  the  Caroline.  His  boast  was 
an  idle  and  false  one.  It  was  shown  that 
he  had  slept  that  night  at  Chippewa ;  that, 
on  hearing  of  the  exploit  next  morning,  he 
expressed  the  wish  that  he  had  been  with 
the  party.  This  wish  had  been  changed  to 
the  assertion  that  he  had  been  one  of  them, 
and  had  killed  one  of  the  Yankees !  Thus  the 
idle  boast  of  a  brainless  braggart  brought  about 
international  disturbance  of  the  most  serious 
nature.  Of  course  McLeod  was  acquitted,  and 
the  war  attitude  of  Great  Britain  soon  sub- 
sided. The  claims  of  the  United  States  against 
the  English  Government  for  indemnity,  on  ac- 
count of  the  destruction  of  the  little  steamboat 
were  eventually  abandoned,  and  the  Caroline 
Affair,  which  fills  a  curious  page  in  American 
history,  was  soon  dropped  from  the  public 
mind. 


CHAPTER   XII 

The  Campaign  of  1840 

We  have  all  witnessed  the  torchlight  proces- 
sions and  the  great  mass-meetings  that  precede 
a  presidential  election.  Every  National  political 
contest  is  characterized  by  excitement  and  com- 
motion among  the  people ;  but  no  other  in  our 
history  can  be  compared  in  unrestrained  enthu- 
siasm with  that  of  1840,  when  William  Henry 
Harrison  was  elected  to  the  presidency.  This 
remarkable  outburst  of  feeling  was  a  reaction 
against  the  prevailing  "  hard  times "  of  the 
years  just  preceding  it. 

During  the  administration  of  Martin  Van 
Buren,  which  was  but  a  continuation  of  the 
administration  of  Jackson,  the  country  had 
suffered  severely  from  the  great  industrial 
depression,  known  as  the  "Panic  of  1837," 
which  left  in  its  trail  the  wrecks  of  many 
fortunes.  The  Whigs  were  prompt  to  blame 
223 


224      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN    HISTORY 

the  whole  trouble  on  the  Democrats.  This 
is  a  custom  in  American  politics  —  for  the 
party  out  of  power  to  blame  the  party  in 
power  with  everything  that  goes  wrong.  Few 
statesmen  have  risen  above  this  practice,  espe- 
cially when  their  own  advancement  depended 
on  it.  In  that  degree  a  statesman  becomes 
a  demagogue. 

We  cannot  enter  on  a  general  discussion  of 
this  panic  of  1837,  but  a  few  words  about  it 
will  not  be  out  of  place.  There  was  no  doubt 
some  truth  in  the  claim  of  the  Whigs  that  the 
Democrats  had  brought  about  the  panic.  Jack- 
son's stern  dealing  with  the  United  States 
Bank,  and  his  subsequent  Specie  Circular, 
probably  hastened,  though  they  did  not  pro- 
duce, the  distressed  condition  that  followed. 

But  the  chief  cause  of  the  panic  was  the 
spirit  of  wild  speculation  that  had  taken 
possession  of  the  people.  The  National  debt 
was  paid  in  1835,  and  for  the  first  and  only 
time  in  American  history  there  was  no  public 
National  debt.  The  people  seemed  to  think 
that  they  could  roll  in  wealth  without  limit,  and 
the   country   was   flooded   with   paper    money. 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF   1840  225 

Almost  every  bank  in  the  country  issued  paper 
money  far  beyond  its  ability  to  redeem  in  coin. 
Prices  rose  and  work  was  plentiful  at  high 
wages.  Great  manufactories  were  begun  and 
never  finished.  The  sale  of  public  lands  was 
increased  about  sevenfold.  Towns  were  laid 
out  in  the  West  that  have  not  been  built  up 
to  this  day.  All  this  was  done  on  a  basis  of 
paper  money,  far  below  the  value  of  gold  and 
silver.  But  the  crash  came,  as  it  always  will 
under  such  circumstances. 

The  Whigs  made  much  political  capital  out  of 
this  panic.  During  Van  Buren's  term  of  office 
they  had  gained  steadily  on  the  Democrats, 
as  shown  by  the  State  elections,  and  it  was 
generally  believed  that,  if  they  made  no  serious 
blunder,  they  would  win  in  the  approaching 
National  contest. 

The  Whig  Convention 

The  National  convention  of  the  Whigs  was 
held  in  a  newly  erected  Lutheran  church  at  Har- 
risburg,  Pennsylvania,  in  December,  1839,  nearly 
a  year  before  the  time  of  the  election.  Before 
this  convention  were  the  names  of  three  candr 
Q 


22&     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

dates  —  Henry  Clay,  the  great  Whig  leader  and 
founder  of  the  party ;  William  Henry  Harrison, 
the  Ohio  farmer  and  hero  of  Tippecanoe; 
Winfield  Scott,  the  leading  general  of  the  army 
and  hero  of  Lundy's  Lane.  They  had  all  been 
born  in  Virginia,  but  were  now  of  different 
States. 

Scott,  whose  greatest  achievement  —  his 
great  march  upon  Mexico  —  was  still  in  the 
future,  was  not  very  seriously  considered  by 
the  delegates,  and  the  real  contest  lay  between 
Clay  and  Harrison.  The  majority  of  the 
delegates  preferred  Clay  for  President ;  but  a 
few  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  party,  among 
whom  were  Thurlow  Weed  and  Horace  Greeley 
of  New  York,  were  using  their  utmost  efforts 
to  make  Harrison  the  candidate. 

The  leader  of  the  party  was  Henry  Clay,  as 
all  acknowledged,  but  there  were  serious  objec- 
tions to  his  nomination.  He  had  been  a  leader 
in  National  affairs  for  thirty  years,  and,  owing 
to  his  positive  outspoken  manner,  had  made 
many  enemies.  He  had  been  a  conspicuous 
advocate  of  the  American  System,  or  protective 
tariff,  which  was  not  popular  in  the  South.     To 


THE  CAMPAIGN   OF    1840  227 

these  objections  was  added  that  of  the  Anti- 
Masons.  The  Anti-Mason  party,  which  had 
been  a  strong  factor  in  the  presidential  contest 
eight  years  before,  had  now  dissolved,  and  most 
of  its  members  had  joined  the  Whigs ;  but  Clay 
could  not  have  commanded  their  votes,  as  he 
was  himself  a  Freemason. 

These  forces,  working  against  Clay,  were  too 
great  to  be  overcome.  Clay  had  authorized  the 
withdrawal  of  his  name  from  the  convention,  if, 
in  the  judgment  of  his  friends,  it  seemed  best 
for  party  harmony.  It  was  about  this  time  that 
he  had  made  use  of  the  now  famous  expression, 
"I  would  rather  be  right  than  be  President." 

Harrison  was  nominated  on  the  fourth  day  of 
the  convention  by  a  plan  resembling  the  so- 
called  "unit  rule."  By  this  plan  the  delegates 
from  each  State  put  the  power  of  voting  into 
the  hands  of  a  committee  of  three,  chosen  from 
their  own  number.  These  several  committees 
then  met  and  chose  Harrison  for  President,  and 
this  choice  was  ratified  by  the  convention,  as 
previously  arranged.  This  was  certainly  an 
unfair  way  of  dealing  with  Mr.  Clay.  In  open 
convention  Clay  would  undoubtedly  have  been 


228     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

the  first  choice ;  but  the  committees,  being 
smaller,  were  so  managed  by  the  politicians  as 
to  substitute  the  name  of  Harrison  for  that 
of  Clay. 

Clay's  friends  were  deeply  disappointed  when 
their  chief  was  set  aside,  and  the  Harrison  men 
feared  that  they  might  "  bolt "  the  ticket.  One 
of  the  most  ardent  followers  of  Clay,  John  Tyler 
of  Virginia,  is  said  to  have  wept  when  his  chief 
was  defeated  in  convention.  To  shed  tears  will 
not  usually  prove  a  means  of  gaining  the  presi- 
dency of  the  United  States,  but  in  this  case  it 
did  that  very  thing.  The  Harrison  followers, 
to  make  sure  of  winning  the  support  of  the 
Clay  followers,  decided  to  choose  one  of  the 
latter  for  second  place,  and  as  they  were  cast- 
ing about  for  a  suitable  choice — behold,  John 
Tyler  in  tears !  And  he  was  straightway 
nominated  for  the  vice-presidency. 

Tyler  was  a  man  of  some  importance.  He 
was  a  United  States  senator  from  Virginia, 
and  had  been  governor  of  that  State.  He  was 
formerly  a  Democrat,  but,  being  opposed  to 
Jackson's  self-willed  policy,  he  had  left  his 
party  and  joined  himself  to  the  Whigs.      The 


THE  CAMPAIGN   OF   1840  229 

Whigs  hoped,  by  placing  him  on  the  ticket,  to 
win  a  certain  floating  vote  from  the  South  which 
they  could  not  otherwise  have  counted  on,  as 
well  as  to  appease  the  followers  of  Henry  Clay. 

William  Henry  Harrison 

Let  us  take  a  brief  view  of  the  chosen 
standard-bearer  of  the  Whigs  in  this  presidential 
contest.  From  the  standpoint  of  availability  no 
better  choice  than  Harrison  could  have  been 
made.  It  is  the  custom  of  our  great  political 
parties  to  nominate  for  President,  not  the  great- 
est statesman  in  the  party,  but  the  one  who 
is  best  fitted  to  win  votes.  Harrison  had  many 
points  in  his  favor,  not  the  least  of  which  was 
that  he  had  been  out  of  public  life  for  many 
years,  had  few  political  enemies,  and  his  views 
on  the  great  questions  of  the  day  were  scarcely 
known.  In  addition  to  this  he  had  a  very 
creditable  military  record,  and  was  the  son  of 
one  of  the  Revolutionary  fathers,  a  signer  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Going  be- 
fore the  people  with  this  record,  he  was  in 
position  to  make  a  strong  race. 

In   1 79 1,  when  the  country  was  shocked  by 


230     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

the  news  of  the  great  defeat  of  St.  Clair  by  the 
Indians  of  the  West,  William  Henry  Harrison, 
then  nineteen  years  of  age,  was  a  medical 
student  in  Philadelphia.  He  at  once  deter- 
mined to  abandon  his  studies,  go  to  the  West, 
and  lend  his  aid  to  retrieve  the  honor  of  his 
country.  Washington,  who  had  been  an  inti- 
mate friend  of  his  father,  made  him  an  ensign, 
and  the  young  man  set  out  with  a  brave  heart 
to  win  glory  for  himself  and  honor  for  his 
country.  He  proceeded  on  foot  across  the 
Alleghany  Mountains  to  Pittsburg,  where  he 
took  a  boat  and  floated  down  the  Ohio  River  to 
Cincinnati,  then  called  Fort  Washington. 

A  little  later  we  find  our  young  hero  serving 
under  General  Wayne  in  the  Indian  wars  in 
northwestern  Ohio.  In  1801  he  was  appointed 
governor  of  the  Indiana  Territory,  a  post 
which  he  held  for  twelve  years.  In  November, 
181 1,  he  defeated  the  Prophet,  twin  brother 
of  the  great  Indian  chief  Tecumseh,  in  the 
famous  battle  of  Tippecanoe;  and  from  this 
battle  Harrison  received  his  popular  military 
name. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  War  of  181 2,  Harri- 


THE   CAMPAIGN   OF    1840  23 1 

son  became  commander  of  the  army  of  the 
Northwest,  and  he  did  valiant  service  for  his 
country  in  several  hard-fought  engagements, 
the  most  important  of  which  was  the  battle 
of  the  Thames,  in  which  the  English  and  Ind- 
ians suffered  a  terrible  defeat,  and  the  famous 
Tecumseh  was  numbered  among  the  slain. 

The  war  over,  Harrison  settled  down  to  a  life 
of  peace,  and  a  few  years  later  he  became  a 
member  of  the  Lower  House  of  Congress,  and 
still  later  a  United  States  senator  from  Ohio. 
John  Quincy  Adams,  when  President,  appointed 
Harrison  minister  to  the  republic  of  Colom- 
bia, South  America  ;  but  Jackson,  succeeding 
Adams,  recalled  him.  He  then  retired  to 
North  Bend,  a  village  near  Cincinnati,  and 
became  a  farmer.  In  1836  he  was  the  leading 
candidate  of  the  Whigs  for  President,  against 
Van  Buren. 

Harrison  did  not  rank  with  the  greatest 
statesmen  of  his  time.  His  ability  was  far 
below  that  of  his  rival  Clay,  or  of  Webster ; 
but  he  was  a  man  of  the  purest  of  motives,  had 
a  kind  and  generous  heart,  and  was  above  any 
imputation  of  political  corruption. 


232     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

The  Democrats  held  their  convention  in 
Baltimore  and  renominated  Van  Buren  without 
division  ;  but  for  second  place  they  made  no 
nomination.  The  Vice-President,  Richard  M. 
Johnson  of  Kentucky,  had  been  chosen  four 
years  before  by  the  Senate,  and  he  now  ex- 
pected to  be  placed  on  the  ticket  for  reelec- 
tion with  Van  Buren,  but  there  was  such 
opposition  to  him  in  the  convention  that  it 
was  decided  to  again  leave  the  election  to 
the  Senate,  in  case  Van  Buren  was  chosen 
President  by  the  electoral  college.  The  Demo- 
crats put  forth  a  strong  declaration  of  princi- 
ples, pronouncing  against  a  United  States 
Bank,  a  high  protective  tariff,  and  paternalism 
in  general ;  while  the  Whigs  had  no  platform 
at  all. 

The  Log  Cabin  and  Hard  Cider  Campaign 

The  campaign  of  1840  was  the  most  re- 
markable in  the  experience  of  the  American 
people.  It  started  out  with  a  whoop  and  a 
hurrah,  and  so  continued,  gaining  in  enthu- 
siasm, to  the  time  of  the  election.  The  Whigs 
had  made    "  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too  "  their 


THE  CAMPAIGN   OF   1840  233 

battle-cry.  Their  meetings  were  vast  beyond 
comparison.  These  mass-meetings,  held  in  all 
parts  of  the  Union,  were  addressed  by  Webster, 
Clay,  Corwin,  and  a  multitude  of  lesser  lights. 
Harrison  himself  spoke  about  half  a  dozen 
times.  Men  would  take  their  wives,  sons,  and 
daughters  to  these  great  gatherings  and  re- 
main all  day  and  often  all  night.  At  first  it 
was  attempted  to  count  the  people  in  attend- 
ance, but  this  was  abandoned,  and  the  crowds 
were  measured  by  the  acre.  The  greatest  of 
these  meetings  was  held  at  Dayton,  Ohio, 
where  the  number  was  estimated  at  one  hun- 
dred thousand. 

A  Democratic  newspaper  in  Baltimore  made 
the  statement  that  Harrison  was  only  a  back- 
woodsman, and  would  be  more  in  his  element 
in  a  log  cabin  with  a  barrel  of  hard  cider 
than  in  the  White  House  at  Washington. 
The  Whigs  took  up  the  cry,  and  made  the 
log  cabin  and  the  barrel  of  cider  the  symbols 
of  the  campaign.  These  they  always  had  at 
their  meetings,  with  a  live  coon  chained  on 
top  of  the  cabin.  Horace  Greeley  started  a 
paper    in    New   York    which     he    called     The 


234     SIDE  LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Log  Cabin.  It  sprang  into  great  popularity 
with  a  single  bound,  reaching  an  enormous 
circulation  during  the  summer. 

Then  the  songs !  The  campaign  songs  of 
1840  were  the  most  notable  feature  of  the 
canvass.  They  were  written  for  the  occasion, 
printed  in  the  papers,  and  sung  at  the  meet- 
ings, rolling  forth  from  fifty  thousand  throats 
and  reverberating  from  hill  to  hill !  The 
poetic  merit  of  these  songs  is  not  of  a  high 
order,  and  none  of  them  has  lived  in  our 
literature.  Their  number  was  legion;  we  sub- 
join a  few  specimens. 

CAMPAIGN   SONGS  OF   1840.1 

Now  join  the  throng  and  swell  the  song, 
Extend  the  circle  wider; 
And  let  us  on  for  Harrison, 
Log  cabin  and  hard  cider. 

And  let  Calhoun  change  with  the  moon,2 
And  every  such  backslider ; 
We'll  go  as  one  for  Harrison  — 
Log  cabin  and  hard  cider. 

1  These  were  selected  from  Greeley's  Log  Cabin.  This  papet 
was  merged  into  the  Tribune  in  September,  1841. 

2  Calhoun,  who  had  been  acting  with  the  Whigs  several  years 
had  now  returned  to  the  Democratic  fold. 


THE   CAMPAIGN   OF    1840  235 

His  cabin's  fit  and  snug  and  neat, 
And  full  and  free  his  larder ; 
And  though  his  cider  may  be  hard, 
The  times  are  vastly  harder. 

This  one  refers  to  the  currency  :  — 

A  man  there  is  in  Washington 

Yclept  the  arch  magician ; 

He  holds  the  post  of  president, 

The  people's  high  commission. 

He  pledged  himself  to  follow  sure, 

Although,  it  led  to  ruin, 

His  'lustrious  predecessor's  path. 

His  name  is  Mat  Van  Buren. 

Oh,  Van  Buren,  the  mighty  President  Van  Buren  ! 

That  monster  the  Sub  Treasury 

He  thrusts  upon  the  nation. 

Determined  on  his  reckless  course 

In  spite  of  lamentation. 

Two  currencies  we  now  shall  have 

To  add  to  our  disasters  ; 

The  officers  will  have  the  gold, 

The  people  the  shinplasters. 

Oh,  Oh,  Van  Buren, 

You're  an  old  humbug,  Van  Buren. 

In  imitation  of  Moore :  — 

There  is  not  in  this  wide  world  a  veteran  so  true 
As  he  in  the  West,  the  brave  Tippecanoe. 

Oh,  the  last  ray  of  feeling  and  life  shall  depart 
Ere  the  deeds  of  his  valor  shall  fade  from  my  heart. 


236     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

This  was  written  for  the  sailors  :  — 

See  yon  seaman  approach  with  his  face  full  of  ire, 

His  long  torn  well  loaded  and  ready  to  fire. 

Just  give  him  the  wink  and  he'll  soon  take  the  cue 

And  tip  up  his  glass  for  Old  Tippecanoe, 

And  swear  that  he'll  join  with  the  rest  of  the  crew, 

To  haul  down  the  flag  of  Van  Buren 

And  run  up  Old  Tippecanoe. 

Here's   one  that  seems  to  aspire  to   poetic 
fancy :  — 

Away  in  the  West  the  fair  river  beside, 
That  waters  North  Bend  in  its  beauty  and  pride, 
And  shows  in  its  mirror  the  summer  sky  blue, 
Oh,  there  dwells  the  farmer  of  Tippecanoe. 

When  the  clear  eastern  sky  in  the  morning's  light  beams, 
And  the  hills  of  Ohio  grow  warm  in  its  gleams, 
When  the  fresh  springing  grass  is  bent  low  with  the  dew, 
With  his  plough  in  the  furrow  stands  Tippecanoe. 

Hurrah  for  the  farmer  of  Tippecanoe, 

The  honest  old  farmer  of  Tippecanoe. 

With  an  arm  that  is  strong  and  a  heart  that  is  true 

The  man  of  the  people  is  Tippecanoe. 

The   following  short  one  was  used  perhaps 
more  than  any  other :  — 

Farewell,  old  Van ; 
You're  a  used  up  man. 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF   1840  2tf 

To  guard  our  ship 
We'll  try  old  Tip, 
With  Tip  and  Tyler 
We'll  burst  Van's  biler. 

Where  were  the  Democrats  all  this  time  ? 
They  were  limping  behind  and  doing  the  best 
they  could.  They  had  meetings,  too,  but  not 
so  large  as  those  of  the  Whigs.  They  appealed 
to  reason  and  argument ;  but  the  people  re- 
fused to  argue  ;  they  would  not  reason ;  they 
preferred  to  sing  and  shout.  Old  General 
Jackson  came  forth  from  his  Hermitage  and 
attempted  to  stay  the  rushing  tide  ;  but  noth- 
ing could  check  the  wild  enthusiasm  for 
Harrison.  The  Democrats  were  left  far  be- 
hind. When  the  election  came  Harrison  swept 
the  country,  carrying  two-thirds  of  the  south- 
ern States  and  every  northern  State  except 
New  Hampshire  and  Illinois. 

Last  Days  of  President  Harrison 

The  joy  of  the  Whigs  at  their  victory  was 
unbounded ;  and  they  little  dreamed  of  the 
disasters  that  awaited  them  in  the  near  future. 
The    winter    following    the    election    was    one 


238      SIDE   LIGHTS  ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

prolonged  jollification.  The  newly  elected 
President,  after  a  triumphal  progress  from 
his  western  home,  reached  Washington  in 
February,  on  the  sixty-eighth  anniversary  of 
his  birthday.1  He  found  the  city  swarming  with 
office-seekers.  He  was  courted  and  caressed 
from  all  sides,  and  little  time  was  left  him 
for  rest. 

Inauguration  day  was  dark  and  foreboding. 
The  new  President  rode  on  horseback  in  a 
two-hour  procession  through  the  streets  of  the 
city,  after  which  he  stood  for  another  hour 
exposed,  without  cloak  or  overcoat,  to  a  keen, 
chilling  wind  while  delivering  his  inaugural 
address.  When  night  came  he  was  very  much 
exhausted ;  but  he  seemed  to  recover  from  the 
effect  of  his  exposure,  and  the  new  adminis- 
tration was  launched  on  a  promising  voyage, 
with  Daniel  Webster  at  the  helm  as  secretary 
of  state. 

The  President  was  besieged  with  office- 
seekers,  who  gave  him  no  rest  day  nor  night. 
So  kindly  was  his  disposition  that  he  could 
turn  away  none  unheard.     He  rose  at  an  early 

1  Schouler,  Vol.  IV.  p.  359. 


THE  CAMPAIGN   OF    1840  239 

hour  in  the  morning,  and  took  a  long  walk 
before  breakfast,  after  which  he  was  busy 
with  his  new  duties  till  late  at  night.  But 
his  strength  was  failing,  and  one  morning  dur- 
ing his  walk  he  took  a  chill  which  speedily 
developed  into  pneumonia.  On  the  4th  of 
April,  half  an  hour  after  midnight,  Harrison 
was  dead,  his  last  words  being,  "  May  the 
principles  of  government  be  carried  out." 

The  exultant  joy  of  the  Whigs  was  now 
changed  to  mourning.  No  President  had  be- 
fore died  in  office,  and  they  had  not  taken 
such  a  possibility  into  account.  Tyler  would 
become  President,  it  is  true,  but  they  were 
not  sure  of  Tyler.  He  had  been  a  Democrat 
until  recent  years,  and  their  fears  that  he  was 
not  in  sympathy  with  the  party  that  elected 
him  were  soon  realized. 

The  whole  people,  regardless  of  party  fealty, 
mourned  the  departed  President.  The  funeral 
can  best  be  described  in  the  words  of  one  of 
our  leading  historians:  — 

"The  7th  of  April  was  the  day  of  the 
funeral.  The  north  portico  of  the  mansion 
was   hung   with    unaccustomed    black.      They 


240     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

who  had  hustled  in  its  walls  with  headlong 
zeal  a  few  days  before,  trod  gently  and  spoke 
in  whispers.  The  body,  in  its  leaden  casket, 
was  taken  from  the  East  Room,  where  it  had 
lain  in  state  on  a  bier  heaped  with  flowers ;  it 
was  placed  on  an  open  funeral  car,  which 
stood  at  the  north  portico,  covered  with  black 
velvet  and  drawn  by  six  white  horses,  each 
with  its  colored  groom.  A  wailing  of  trum- 
pets arose,  inexpressibly  mournful,  and  a  beat- 
ing of  muffled  drums,  as  the  military  escort 
began  its  march  down  the  avenue  with  arms 
reversed.  The  sky  was  overcast,  and  only  a 
stray  sunbeam  from  the  clouds  would  shine 
upon  the  sable  car  with  its  nodding  plumes, 
as  the  procession  moved  eastward  in  slow 
array."1 

The  body  of  the  dead  President  was  finally 
carried  to  his  western  home,  where  it  was 
laid  to  rest  in  a  beautiful  spot  among  the 
trees,  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  River. 

1  Schouler,  Vol.  IV.  p.  365. 


CHAPTER   XIII 
Discovery  of  Gold  in  California 

The  event  that  furnishes  the  subject  of  this 
chapter  was  but  one  of  a  train  of  events  that 
rendered  the  middle  years  of  the  nineteenth 
century  memorable  in  the  history  of  America. 
The  discovery  of  the  precious  metal  on  the 
Pacific  slope  was  in  itself  a  great  event,  and 
it  became  the  chief  factor  in  determining  the 
early  social  conditions  of  the  Great  West,  and 
in  peopling  that  region  with  a  rapidity  unpar- 
alleled in  the  history  of  colonization.  But  this 
discovery  did  more ;  it  became  a  powerful 
weight  in  the  political  balance  in  which  was 
suspended  the  destiny  of  the  American  people. 

At  this  time  there  was  but  one  great  political 
issue  before  the  American  public  —  the  one 
that  had  disturbed  the  harmony  between  the 
North  and  the  South  for  many  years  —  the 
slavery  question.  The  South  was  anxious 
r  241 


242      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

about  the  welfare  of  her  peculiar  institution, 
and  as  a  safeguard  against  unfavorable  legis- 
lation had  managed,  from  early  in  the  century, 
to  admit  the  new  States  in  pairs,  one  in  the 
North  and  one  in  the  South,  so  as  to  preserve 
the  balance  of  power  in  the  United  States 
Senate. 

The  South  began  to  view  with  alarm  the 
exhaustion  of  her  territory,  while  that  of  the 
North  seemed  inexhaustible.  The  Louisiana 
Purchase  was  wedge-shaped,  the  larger  end 
being  north  of  thirty-six-thirty,  and  the  South 
had  used  up  her  smaller  end,  beginning  with 
the  admission  of  Louisiana  in  1812,  and  ending 
with  the  admission  of  Arkansas  in  1836.  No 
more  territory  remained  to  the  South,  except 
Florida  and  the  Indian  Territory  until  the  ad- 
mission of  Texas ;  and  these  were  no  match  in 
extent  to  the  vast  region  of  the  Northwest 
after  the  settlement  of  the  Oregon  boundary. 
Hence  came  the  Mexican  War. 

The  Mexican  War  was  ostensibly  waged  on 
account  of  Texas ;  but  there  was  a  deeper 
cause.  It  was  the  South  that  furnished  the 
majority  of  the  soldiers;  it  was  the  spirit  of  the 


DISCOVERY   OF  GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA      243 

South  that  pushed  the  war  to  a  finish,  resulting 
in  the  dismemberment  of  Mexico,  and  the  add- 
ing to  our  public  domain  the  boundless  wilder- 
ness of  the  Southwest.  The  object  was  to 
carve  the  California  country  into  slave  States, 
and  thus  balance  the  future  free  States  of  the 
North.  Thus  we  see  the  great  political  signifi- 
cance of  California. 

The  treaty  of  Gaudaloupe  Hidalgo,  con- 
cluded February  2,  1848,  resulted,  as  every  one 
foresaw,  in  the  cession  by  Mexico  to  the  United 
States  of  the  unsettled  wilderness  in  the  South- 
west. The  Mexicans  did  not  dream  perhaps 
of  the  fabulous  wealth  that  lay  hidden  so  near 
the  surface  throughout  a  large  portion  of  the 
ceded  territory  ;  and  even  if  they  had,  the  con- 
ditions would  not  have  been  changed,  for  their 
country  lay  helpless  at  the  feet  of  the  con- 
querors from  the  North. 

Suttees  Sawmill 

California  was  a  wild  country  in  1848.  The 
inhabitants,  who  numbered  but  a  few  thousand, 
were  a  strange  mixture  of  Yankees  from  the 
East,    Mormons,    Mexicans    and   wild    Indians 


244     SIDE  LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

with  a  sprinkling  of  Hawaiians,  negroes, 
and  Europeans.  They  lived  for  the  most  part 
in  rude  log  huts  or  adobe  houses,  scattered 
through  the  wilderness  near  the  cattle  ranches 
or  missions,  or  clustered  here  and  there  into 
groups  .that  promised  to  grow  into  towns  and 
cities  whenever  civilization  should  penetrate 
into  that  remote  region. 

Northeast  from  the  rude  village  of  San 
Francisco  lay  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Sacra- 
mento River.  The  most  important  personage 
in  this  valley  was  the  enterprising  Swiss,  John 
A.  Sutter.  He  had  come  into  that  country 
nine  years  before,  possessed  himself  of  some 
thousands  of  acres  of  land,  and  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  American  River,  near  its  junction 
with  the  Sacramento,  had  built  a  fort,  known 
far  and  near  as  Sutter's  Fort,  and  this  became 
the  radiating  point  of  all  the  settlements  in  the 
Sacramento  Valley.1 

Sutter  had  several  hundred  men  in  his  em- 
ploy ;  he  owned  twelve  thousand  cattle,  fifteen 
thousand  sheep,  and  other  property  in  like  pro- 
portion.    He  was  truly  a  prince  in  the  western 

1H.  H.  Bancroft's  Works,  Vol.  23,  p.  12. 


DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA      245 

wilds,  and  was  monarch  of  all  he  surveyed.  In 
the  employ  of  Sutter  was  a  man  named  James 
W.  Marshall,  a  carpenter  from  New  Jersey. 
Sutter  decided  to  build  a  sawmill,  chose  Mar- 
shall to  manage  its  construction,  and  made  him 
a  partner  in  its  ownership.  Owing  to  its  prox- 
imity to  the  best  timber  land,  a  site  was  chosen 
on  the  south  fork  of  the  American  River,  about 
forty  miles  eastward  from  Sutter's.  Fort,  and 
near  the  base  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains. 
The  place  was  called  Coloma. 

Here  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1848  Mar- 
shall, with  a  few  Mormons  and  Indians,  was 
engaged  in  building  the  sawmill  when  he  made 
the  discovery  that  was  destined  to  move  the 
world.  They  had  been  digging  a  mill-race,  and 
to  wash  out  the  loose  earth  a  current  of  water 
was  occasionally  turned  into  it.  On  the  after- 
noon of  the  24th  of  January  as  Marshall  was 
walking  leisurely  along  the  newly  washed  out 
mill-race,  he  noticed  in  the  sand  numerous 
yellow  glittering  particles  that  proved  to  be 
gold ! 

Marshall,  a  few  days  later,  after  convincing 
himself  of   the  nature  of   his  find,  mounted  a 


246     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON   AMERICAN    HISTORY 

horse  and  hastened  to  Sutter's  Fort.  Finding 
Mr.  Sutter  alone,  he  exhibited  his  nuggets,  and 
the  two  men,  applying  every  test  within  their 
reach,  were  fully  convinced  that  the  shining 
metal  was  gold.  They  then  decided  not  to 
reveal  the  secret  at  that  time ;  but  such  secrets 
are  hard  to  keep.  In  a  very  few  weeks  all  the 
settlers  in  the  valley  had  heard  of  Marshall's 
discovery,  but  the  majority  were  slow  to  believe 
that  anything  would  come  of  it.1 

More  than  three  months  passed  before  the 
people  throughout  California  were  fully  con- 
vinced that  a  great  discovery  had  been  made. 
But  when,  early  in  May,  some  of  the  miners 
came  to  San  Francisco  laden  with  bottles,  tin 
cans,  and  buckskin  bags  filled  with  the  precious 
metal  —  when  one  Samuel  Brannan,  holding  up 
a  bottle  of  the  dust  in  one  hand,  and  swinging 

1  It  is  not  true,  as  many  believe,  that  a  furor  of  excitement 
was  created  at  the  first  news  of  the  discovery.  The  fact  is,  most 
of  the  people  beyond  Sutter's  community  dismissed  the  subject 
from  their  minds  as  of  little  importance,  many  refusing  to  be- 
lieve the  report.  The  two  San  Francisco  weekly  newspapers 
scarcely  mentioned  the  subject  during  the  winter.  Men  wish- 
ing to  visit  the  alleged  gold-fields,  would  pretend  they  had  other 
business  in  that  part  of  the  country. 


DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA     247 

his  hat  in  the  other,  passed  through  the  streets 
shouting,  "  Gold !  gold !  gold  from  the  Ameri- 
can River!  "  —  they  could  doubt  no  longer. 

The  conversion  of  San  Francisco  was  com- 
plete. The  people  were  now  ready  to  believe 
every  report  from  the  mines,  however  exagger- 
ated ;  and  immediately  the  rush  began.  Many 
sold  all  their  possessions  and  hastened  to  the 
gold-fields.  All  other  business  came  to  a  stand- 
still. The  two  newspapers  suspended  publica- 
tion for  want  of  workmen.  By  the  middle  of 
May  three-fourths  of  the  male  population  of 
the  town  had  gone  to  the  mines.  The  prices 
of  shovels,  pickaxes,  blankets,  and  the  like  rose 
in  a  few  days  to  six  times  their  former  value. 
The  town  council  abandoned  its  sittings ;  the 
little  church  on  the  plaza  was  closed ;  farms 
were  left  tenantless,  and  waving  fields  of  grain 
let  run  to  waste.  The  judge  abandoned  the 
bench,  and  the  doctor  his  patients.1  The  ex- 
citement spread  down  the  coast  to  Monterey, 
to  Santa  Barbara,  to  Los  Angeles,  and  to  San 
Diego,  and  the  result  was  the  same.  The 
people  were  seized  with  a  delirium,  and  the  one 

1  H.  H.  Bancroft,  Vol.  23,  p.  62. 


248     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

universal  cry  along  the  coast,  from  the  seashore 
to  the  mountains,  was  gold  !  gold  ! 

The  " Forty- Niners" 

As  the  telegraph  and  the  railway  had  not  yet 
penetrated  the  western  wilderness,  the  news  of 
the  wonderful  discovery  was  slow  to  reach  the 
East.  It  was  estimated  that  by  midsummer 
four  thousand  men  were  scattered  through  the 
Sacramento  Valley  searching  for  the  golden 
treasure,  and  this  number  was  considerably 
augmented  before  the  end  of  the  year;  but  it 
was  not  until  the  next  year  that  the  emigrants 
from  abroad  began  to  arrive.  Then  they  came 
in  crowds.  Before  the  close  of  the  year  1849, 
seventy-five  thousand  had  reached  the  golden 
shores  to  seek  for  the  hidden  wealth.  These 
were  called  "  Forty-Niners " ;  and  this  name 
was  also  applied  to  others  who  came  later. 

The  sea  was  dotted  with  ships  from  every 
clime  headed  for  the  Pacific  coast.  Great  cara- 
vans wound  their  way  across  the  western  plains 
toward  the  setting  sun.  Men  from  every 
corner  of  the  Union,  men  of  every  religion, 
every  nationality,  as  if  led  by  an  unseen  siren, 


DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA      249 

hastened  to  join  the  moving  trains  to  the  land 
of  gold. 

But,  lo  !  a  terrible  visitor  came  that  year  —  a 
visitor  that  stalks  from  land  to  land,  and  leaves 
desolation  frightful  and  irreparable  in  his  trail. 
It  was  the  cholera!  The  cholera  seized  these 
west-bound  trains,  and  many  a  weary  traveller 
never  reached  his  Eldorado,  but  found  a  name- 
less grave  far  from  friends  and  home,  upon  the 
vast  and  trackless  regions  West !  Other  foes 
there  were  —  famine  and  exposure,  the  snows  of 
the  Sierras,  the  wild  beast,  and  the  wild  Indian. 
Against  these  the  hardy  pilgrim  could,  in  some 
measure,  fortify  himself;  but  that  dreadful 
enemy,  the  cholera,  found  him  unarmed  —  and 
thousands  yielded  to  its  deadly  embrace. 

A  long  and  wearisome  journey  it  was,  but 
a  great  number  braved  its  perils.  Sometimes 
the  line  of  wagons  was  unbroken  for  miles, 
and  at  night  the  gleaming  camp-fires  looked 
like  the  lights  of  a  distant  city.1  Some  took 
their  families  with  them ;  but  the  great  ma- 
jority were  unmarried,  or  left  their  families  in 
the   East,   intending   to   return.      It   was   near 

1  H.  H.  Bancroft,  Vol.  23,  p.  146. 


250     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

midsummer  when  this  stream  of  humanity  be- 
gan to  pour  into  the  Sacramento  Valley  — 
some  to  realize  the  dream  of  fortune  that 
had  lured  them  from  their  homes ;  but  more 
to  be  disappointed,  to  return  broken  in  spirit 
and  in  health,  or  to  find  an  unknown  grave 
in  the  wilderness. 

Not  only  from  beyond  the  mountains,  but 
also  from  the  sea,  the  treasure  seekers  were 
pouring  into  the  land  of  promise.  They  came 
from  every  corner  of  the  globe  —  from  the 
far-off  Orient,  from  the  frozen  North,  and 
from  the  sunny  South.  The  news  of  the 
golden  discovery  had  been  published  in  all 
the  leading  newspapers  throughout  the  world, 
and  the  excitement  created  in  foreign  coun- 
tries was  scarcely  less  than  in  our  own  coun- 
try. Ships  were  diverted  from  the  channels 
of  commerce  and  headed  for  California,  where 
they  began  to  arrive  in  the  early  spring  of 
1849;  and  during  that  year  and  the  next 
hundreds  of  vessels  were  left  helpless  at  San 
Francisco,  their  crews  having  caught  the  gold 
fever  and  "deserted  them.1 

1  W.  T.  Sherman's  Memoirs,  Vol.  I.  p.  96. 


DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD   IN  CALIFORNIA      25 1 

The  voyage  around  Cape  Horn  was  long 
and  perilous,  and  many  a  weary  voyager  wept 
for  joy  on  coming  in  sight  of  the  Golden 
Gate.  But  a  large  number  went  by  way  of 
Panama ;  and,  owing  to  the  false  promises  of 
the  fraudulent  agents  of  whom  they  had  pur- 
chased their  tickets,  and  to  the  inability  of 
the  vessels  to  return  from  San  Francisco  for 
want  of  crews,  thousands  were  forced  to  re- 
main for  weeks  and  even  months  on  the 
isthmus,  where  the  deadly  climate  and  the 
cholera  swept  many  into  the  grave. 

A   View  of  the  Miners  and  the  Mines 

Within  three  years  after  the  first  discov- 
ery by  Marshall  it  was  estimated  that  one 
hundred  thousand  men  were  at  work  in  the 
California  gold  mines.  This  number  was  in- 
creased but  little  in  the  years  following,  as 
the  new  arrivals  scarcely  exceeded  in  number 
the  losses  by  death  and  the  numbers  leaving 
for  their  homes. 

Coloma,  the  site  of  the  original  discovery, 
was  for  a  time  the  centre  of  all  mining  opera- 
tions;  but,  as   the   crowds   came   in,  the  field 


252     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

was  widened  until  it  covered  most  of  the  Sac- 
ramento Valley  and  the  western  slope  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada  Mountains ;  it  was  later  ex- 
tended southward  through  the  San  Joaquin 
Valley.  The  mines  in  various  places  were 
exceedingly  rich  in  gold  deposits,  as  much  as 
ten  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  the  metal  being 
frequently  taken  from  a  claim  ten  feet  square. 
Gold  was  found  in  grains,  pellets,  scales,  and 
in  seams  through  quartz.  Nuggets  weighing 
a  pound  or  more  were  frequently  found.  The 
largest  nugget  ever  found  in  the  California 
mines  was  unearthed  by  five  poor  men  in 
November,  1854.  It  weighed  one  hundred 
and  sixty-one  pounds,  was  about  seven-eighths 
pure,  and  yielded  thirty-five  thousand  dollars. 

The  yield  of  gold  throughout  California 
reached  the  sum  of  sixty-five  million  dollars 
in  one  year  (1853);  and  the  entire  output  in 
the  first  eight  years  was  about  five  hundred 
million  dollars. 

Such  figures  would  seem  to  indicate  that 
every  miner  must  have  made  a  fortune;  but 
this  is  far  from  the  truth.  Some,  it  is  true, 
were  wise  enough,  after  a  rich  find,  to  aban- 


DISCOVERY   OF  GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA      253 

don  the  field  before  spending  or  wasting  what 
they  had  gained ;  others,  honest,  well-meaning 
men  who  had  left  families  in  the  East,  worked 
steadily  with  fair  returns,  until  they  had  laid 
by  a  competence,  after  which  they  returned 
to  their  homes.  But  the  majority  of  the 
miners  were  as  poor  after  several  years'  toil 
as  when  they  began. 

Some  of  these  were  of  the  unlucky,  ne'er- 
do-well  sort  who  fail  at  everything  they  at- 
tempt;1  but   a   greater   number   were    of   the 

1  Among  these  may  be  named  Marshall,  the  original  discov- 
erer. He  lacked  the  ability  to  compete  with  other  miners. 
In  religion  he  was  a  spiritualist,  and  he  flitted  here  and  there 
among  the  mines  searching  for  some  rich  treasure  in  obedi- 
ence to  his  supposed  supernatural  guides.  Ill  luck  followed 
him  constantly,  and  he  became  petulant,  morbid,  and  misan- 
thropic. He  died  in  poverty  and  obscurity,  alone  in  his 
cabin,  in  1885.  Two  years  later  the  California  legislature  ap- 
propriated five  thousand  dollars  for  the  erection  of  a  monument 
to  the  memory  of  Marshall.  The  monument  was  erected  on 
a  hill  near  the  place  of  the  first  discovery  of  gold.  On  the 
monument  stands  the  figure  of  a  man  with  outstretched  hand, 
the  finger  pointing  to  the  exact  spot  where  Marshall  picked  up 
the  first  shining  nugget  of  gold. 

Sutter  was  also  among  the  unsuccessful.  The  discovery  of 
gold  proved  his  ruin.  It  led  to  the  destruction  of  his  land  and 
cattle,  and  scattered  his  laborers  far  and  wide.  His  vast  pos- 
sessions  soon   dwindled    to   nothing,   and   for   sustenance   he 


254     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

profligate  class,  who,  at  the  end  of  each  week, 
would  hie  to  the  drinking  and  gambling  dens, 
and  there  carouse  till  the  week's  earnings 
were  gone.  And  even  the  honest  man  was 
often  lured  to  his  ruin  by  these  glittering 
dens. 

The  gambling  shark  was  early  on  the 
ground.  He  came  not  to  work,  but  to  lie  in 
wait  for  the  sturdy  miner  returning  to  camp 
with  the  fruit  of  his  toil ;  and  too  often  the 
silly  fly  allowed  himself  to  be  entrapped  in 
the  spider's  web.  One  man,  after  some  weeks 
of  fruitless  search,  found  a  pocket  of  gold  in 
a  river  bank  from  which  he  gathered  several 
thousand  dollars'  worth  in  a  few  hours.  But 
prosperity  was  too  much  for  him ;  the  gam- 
blers had  him  in  their  power  before  night, 
and  by  midnight  he  was  drunk  and  penniless. 

The  dress  of  the  miner  consisted  of  a  coarse 
woollen  or  checked  shirt,  loose  trousers  tucked 
into  high,  wrinkled  boots,  a  broad-brimmed 
slouch   hat,  and  a  belt  round  the  waist,  from 

accepted  donations  from  the  State.  He  lacked  the  ability  to 
profit  by  the  vast  opportunities  that  had  been  thrown  in  his 
way.  —  Bancroft,  Vol.  23,  p.  103. 


DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD   IN  CALIFORNIA      255 

which  bristled  his  knife  and  pistols.  The 
average  miner  was  honest,  faithful  to  a  friend, 
quick  to  resent  an  injury,  but  forgiving,  and 
generous  to  a  fault.  He  cultivated  an  air  of 
reckless  daring,  and  looked  with  contempt  on 
all  things  effeminate.  When  too  far  from 
camp  to  reach  it  at  night,  he  slept  in  the 
open  air  on  a  bed  of  leaves  or  wrapped  in  his 
blanket.  He  lived  so  near  to  Nature's  heart 
that  in  a  few  years,  if  he  remained,  he  lost 
his  hold  on  the  refinements  of  civilization,  and 
became  almost  as  much  a  child  of  the  forest 
as  was  the  untamed  Indian.  The  long  hair 
falling  over  his  shoulders  and  the  untrimmed 
beard  gave  him  a  wild  and  shaggy  appear- 
ance, but  the  twinkle  of  good  humor  in  his 
eye  soon  dispelled  any  fears  that  his  appear- 
ance might  awaken  in  the  timid. 

Camp-life  among  the  miners  had  its  joys 
as  well  as  its  hardships.  There  was  an  air 
of  social  freedom  unknown  in  the  other  set- 
tlements. Democracy  reigned  supreme,  and 
social  caste  was  nowhere  tolerated.  A  man 
might  vie  with  his  neighbor  in  hunting  gold, 
or   in  feats  of    strength ;  but  if  he  attempted 


256     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

to  outdo  him  in  dress,  personal  appearance, 
or  refinement  of  manner,  he  was  instantly 
marked  as  an  object  of  ridicule. 

Family  life  among  the  miners  there  was  al- 
most none.  Here  and  there  was  a  man  whose 
wife  had  accompanied  him  and  shared  his 
wild  life  in  the  wilderness,  but  the  vast  major- 
ity were  unmarried,  or  had  broken  home  ties, 
and  left  their  families  in  the  East. 

Many  of  the  camps  were  entirely  without 
women,  and  here  was  illustrated  most  vividly 
how  Nature  has  made  the  sexes  each  indis- 
pensable to  the  other.  These  horny-handed 
pioneers  would  often  walk  ten  miles  and  more 
simply  to  see  a  woman,  without  expecting  to 
form  her  acquaintance.  It  often  happened 
in  the  towns,  that  a  miner,  meeting  a  little 
girl  in  the  street,  would  catch  her  up  in  his 
arms,  shower  her  face  with  kisses,  and  release 
her  only  after  dropping  an  ounce  or  more  of 
gold  dust  into  her  hand.  Wild  life  in  the 
forest  seemed  to  increase  rather  than  dimin- 
ish in  these  men's  hearts  the  feeling  of  ten- 
derness toward  women  and  children.  The 
dearth   of    women   on    the    Pacific    coast    was 


DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA      257 

felt  for  several  years,  and  it  left  a  lasting  im- 
pression on  the  community.  For  many  years 
afterward  it  was  difficult  to  find  a  jury  in 
all  California  that  would  convict  a  woman  for 
any  crime. 

During  the  first  few  years  following  the 
gold  discovery,  great  numbers  of  people  came 
to  California,  not  with  the  intention  of  return- 
ing, but  to  make  the  Golden  State  their  homes. 
Towns  sprang  up  in  many  places;  law  and 
order  gradually  took  the  place  of  rowdyism 
and  disorder.  The  time  was  at  hand  for  Cali- 
fornia to  enter  the  glorious  galaxy  of  States 
in  which  she  was  destined  to  become  one  of 
the  brightest  stars. 

California  in  National  Politics 

A  presidential  election  following  close  upon 
the  Mexican  War,  one  of  the  successful  gene- 
rals, Zachary  Taylor,  the  hero  of  Buena  Vista, 
was  chosen  to  the  high  office.  General  Win- 
field  Scott  had  won  victories  equal  to  those  of 
Taylor,  but  he  did  not  receive  equal  honor  to 
that  accorded  Taylor;  and  the  reason  was 
that    his   laurels    were    won    at  a  later   period. 


258     SIDE  LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

when  the  American  people  had,  in  some  meas* 
ure,  lost  their  interest  in  the  struggle. 

A  great  movement  usually  wins  in  popu- 
larity as  it  shows  its  ability  to  succeed,  but 
the  opposite  was  true  in  the  case  of  the  Mexi- 
can War,  notwithstanding  the  unbroken  suc- 
cess of  the  Americans.  The  reason  for  this 
change  of  sentiments  was,  first,  the  people 
began  to  feel  a  little  ashamed  of  dealing  so 
harshly  with  a  weak  sister  republic ;  and, 
second,  the  enthusiasm  in  the  North  was  les- 
sened by  the  fear  that  the  lands  about  to  be 
acquired  from  Mexico  would  become  slave 
territory,  while  the  people  of  the  South  expe- 
rienced a  similar  change  of  heart  from  the 
very  opposite  cause  —  a  fear  that  those  lands 
would  not  become  slave  territory. 

During  the  brief  presidential  term  of  Zachary 
Taylor,  the  North  and  the  South  were  at  vari- 
ance on  this  great  question.  The  strife  was 
deep-seated,  and  the  peace  of  the  Union  was 
seriously  threatened,  when  suddenly  a  new 
and  unforeseen  element  entered  into  the  con- 
test. This  new  element  was  furnished  by  the 
application  of    California  for  statehood.     Cali 


DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA      259 

fornia  had  been  settled  far  more  rapidly  than 
any  other  portion  of  our  country,  and  before 
the  close  of  the  year  1849  a  convention  met 
at  Monterey,  framed  a  State  constitution,  and 
made  application  for  admission  into  the  Union. 
This  constitution  expressly  forbade  slavery 
within  the  State.  The  miners  were,  with  few 
exceptions,  men  who  did  not  own  slaves, 
though  many  had  come  from  the  South.  The 
slaveholders  had,  as  a  rule,  found  it  inexpe- 
dient to  leave  their  homes,  and  go  to  the  dis- 
tant mines,  and  impossible  to  remove  thither 
with  their  slaves  and  be  successful.  It  was, 
therefore,  the  non-slaveholding  class  that  made 
up  the  population  of  the  Pacific  coast,  and, 
when  the  constitution  was  framed,  the  vote 
was  unanimous  to  exclude  slavery  forever 
from  the  bounds  of  the  new  State. 

This  was  a  severe  blow  to  the  South.  Cali- 
fornia was  the  garden  of  the  Pacific  slope,  the 
very  best  portion  of  the  newly  acquired  terri- 
tory, and  to  see  their  darling  institution  forever 
prohibited  from  it  was  more  than  the  slave- 
holders could  bear.  Moreover,  if  California 
became  a  free  State,  the  balance  in  the  Senate 


260     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

would  be  broken,  and  the  preponderance  of 
political  power  would  henceforth  rest  with  the 
North.  The  South,  therefore,  sternly  resisted 
the  admission  of  the  new  State  in  that  form, 
and  demanded  that  it  be  divided  in  the  middle 
and  the  southern  half  made  a  slave  State. 

A  convention  of  leading  southern  statesmen 
met  at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  and  declared  that 
any  State  had  a  right  to  secede  from  the 
Union.  The  whole  South  was  threatening  to 
break  up  the  Union  if  the  North  did  not  yield. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  that 
memorable  year,  1850,  was  ushered  in  —  memo- 
rable not  so  much  for  the  death  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  of  the  great  Calhoun,  as  for  the 
excessive  commotion  of  the  people  and  for 
the  extraordinary  working  of  Congress.  Cali- 
fornia was  knocking  loudly  for  admission ;  the 
South  was  hostile  and  threatening  to  destroy 
the  Union,  while  the  people  of  the  North  were 
in  equal  turmoil  —  about  half  preferring  to  yield 
for  the  sake  of  peace,  the  other  half  declaring 
frantically  that  slavery  should  encroach  no  far- 
ther on  free  soil. 

While  this  unrest  of   the  people  was  at  its 


DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD   IN  CALIFORNIA      26 1 

height,  the  Thirty-First  Congress  met.  The 
United  States  Senate  was  the  ablest  that  ever 
met  in  the  nation's  capital.  There  we  find 
for  the  last  time  the  great  triumvirate,  Clay, 
Webster,  and  Calhoun,  and  these  were  ably 
seconded  by  William  H.  Seward,  Stephen  A. 
Douglas..  Jefferson  Davis,  Thomas  H.  Benton, 
Salmon  P.  Chase,  and  many  lesser  lights. 

Early  in  the  session  Clay,  the  great  com- 
promiser, came  forward  with  his  last  and 
greatest  compromise,  known  in  history  as  the 
Omnibus  Bill,  or  the  Compromise  Measures 
of  1850.  This  bill  consisted  of  five  meas- 
ures, one  of  which  was  the  admission  of  Cali- 
fornia as  a  free  State.  It  was  debated  for 
several  months,  torn  to  pieces,  and  finally 
passed  piecemeal.  Clay  announced  that  on  a 
certain  day  in  February  he  would  speak  on 
the  bill,  and  thousands  of  his  admirers  came,  to 
Washington  from  various  sections  of  the  Union 
to  hear  this  last  and  greatest  speech  of  his 
life.  Three  historic  speeches  by  Calhoun,  Web- 
ster, and  Seward  followed  in  March.  Thus  the 
battle  of  the  giants  continued  during  the  spring 
and  summer ;  but  before  any  of  the  measures 


262      SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

of  this  famous  bill  became  law,  the  country 
was  shocked  by  the  death  of  President  Taylor, 
which  occurred  on  the  9th  of  July,  1850.  Tay- 
lor was  a  southern  man  and  a  slaveholder,  but 
his  patriotism  rose  high  above  his  partisanship ; 
his  feelings  were  national  and  not  sectional. 
After  the  brief  interruption  occasioned  by  the 
obsequies  of  the  dead  President  and  by  the  in- 
stallation of  his  successor,  Millard  Fillmore  of 
New  York,  the  discussion  of  the  great  meas- 
ures was  resumed,  and  early  in  September  the 
one  with  which  we  are  dealing  in  this  chapter, 
the  admission  of  California  as  a  free  State, 
became  a  law.  Thus  the  political  balance  in 
the  United  States  Senate  was  broken,  never 
to  be  restored.  The  South  had  long  been  in 
the  minority  in  the  Lower  House,  and  now  the 
loss  of  equal  power  in  the  Senate  produced 
the  general  belief  throughout  that  section  that, 
as  regards  National  legislation,  the  institution 
of  slavery  would  henceforth  be  at  the  mercy  of 
the  North. 


CHAPTER   XIV 
The  Underground  Railroad 

The  expression  "  Underground  Railroad " 
was  used  to  designate  the  system  of  giving 
aid  to  slaves  escaping  from  their  masters. 
The  historic  interest  in  the  subject  rests,  not 
so  much  on  what  was  done  by  its  operation, 
as  on  the  index  it  furnishes  to  popular  feel- 
ing at  the  North  on  the  slavery  question. 
Under  this  heading  we  shall  also  notice  the 
famous  Fugitive  Slave  Law  and  its  working. 

It  is  difficult  for  us  to  realize  in  this  genera- 
tion how  great  was  the  agitation  of  the  peo- 
ple throughout  the  country  on  the  slavery 
question,  during  the  decade  immediately  pre- 
ceding the  Civil  War.  The  abolition  senti- 
ment at  the  North,  led  by  Benjamin  Lundy, 
William  Lloyd  Garrison,  E.  P.  Lovejoy,  Joshua 
R.  Giddings,  and  others,  had  begun  to  make 
itself  felt  away  back  in  the  thirties.  The 
263 


264     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Liberty  party  made  its  appearance  in  national 
politics  in  1840.  It  cast  but  seven  thousand 
votes  that  year,  but  four  years  later  its  vote 
exceeded  sixty  thousand ;  and  while  the  party, 
as  such,  never  played  a  great  part  in  the 
Nation's  affairs,  its  steady  growth  and  the  prin- 
ciples it  infused  in  the  greater  political  organ- 
izations showed  plainly  the  direction  in  which 
the  political  wind  was  blowing.  The  South 
became  alarmed  at  the  spread  of  abolition 
feeling  at  the  North.  Calhoun,  the  great 
champion  of  the  slave  power,  foresaw  the 
threatened  dangers,  and  he  solemnly  called 
upon  the  North  to  suppress  the  spreading  evil, 
predicting  the  gravest  consequences  if  this  was 
not  done.  But,  with  all  his  prophetic  vision, 
the  great  slavery  champion  made  one  serious 
miscalculation.  He  was  right  when  he  said 
that  if  the  moral  consciousness  of  a  majority 
of  the  people  opposed  slavery,  slavery  must 
fall ;  but  he  was  wrong  in  believing  that  human 
legislation  can  govern  the  conscience  of  the 
people. 

As  stated  in  the  last  chapter  the  admission 
of    California    as   a   free   State    offended    the 


THE  UNDERGROUND   RAILROAD  265 

South ;  but  there  was  another  measure  in  that 
famous  mid-century  legislation  that  met  with 
still  greater  opposition,  and  became  a  more 
potent  factor  in  bringing  about  a  final  crisis 
that  followed  ten  years  later.  This  time  it  was 
the  North  that  was  offended,  and  the  law  that 
caused  the  offence  is  known  as 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 

The  first  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was  passed  in 
1793.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
had,  in  Article  IV.,  Section  II.,  provided  for 
the  delivering  up  of  persons  bound  to  service, 
escaping  from  one  State  into  another.  The  law 
of  1793  was  therefore  constitutional,  and  it 
remained  in  force  and  unchanged  for  more 
than  half  a  century,  when  it  was  supplanted 
by  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1850.  This  law 
of  1850  was,  to  say  the  least,  a  vicious  meas- 
ure ;  the  old  law,  hard  as  it  was  upon  the 
black  man,  was  now  changed  for  the  worse. 
The  South  as  a  whole  cannot  be  said  to  have 
been  responsible  for  this  inhuman  law.  It  was 
forced  upon  the  country  by  a  class  of  slave- 
holders who  were  exasperated  at   the   loss  of 


266     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN    HISTORY 

California,  and  who  now  demanded,  as  a  par- 
tial compensation,  that  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  be  enacted  and  accepted  by  the  North. 
It  was  supported  also  by  many  of  the  milder 
type  of  southern  men,  such  as  Henry  Clay, 
and  by  some  from  the  North,  not  because 
they  believed  it  a  good  thing  in  itself,  but 
because  they  believed  it  necessary  to  yield 
thus  far  to  the  demands  of  the  South  for  the 
sake  of  peace  between  the  two  great  sections 
of  the  country. 

President  Millard  Fillmore,  on  September  18, 
1850,  signed  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  by 
this  act,  more  than  by  any  other,  he  is  remem- 
bered in  American  history.  By  this  act  he 
covered  his  name  with  dishonor,  and  no  sub- 
sequent show  of  patriotism  could  efface  it. 
The  storm  of  protest  that  came  from  his  own 
section  was  fierce  and  uncontrollable,  and  the 
name  of  Fillmore  was  inseparably  linked  with 
the  offensive  law.  In  signing  that  bill,  it  has 
been  said,  the  President  signed  his  own  death- 
warrant  as  a  national  statesman ;  and  yet  it 
is  difficult  to  see  how  he  could  have  avoided 
doing  what    he   did,  without   bringing   on   the 


THE  UNDERGROUND   RAILROAD  267 

country  a  greater  disaster,  for  the  temper  of 
the  South  was  such  that  a  rejection  of  the 
law  would  no  doubt  have  resulted  in  the  imme- 
diate secession  of  some  or  all  of  the  slave 
States.  And  secession  at  that  time  would  cer- 
tainly have  resulted  in  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union,  as  there  was  then  no  great  political 
party  pledged  to  the  maintenance  of  its 
integrity. 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was  inhuman  and 
unjust.  This  we  say  in  all  candor  and  without 
partisan  bias ;  and  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  any  intelligent  American  citizen 
of  to-day,  whether  from  the  North  or  from 
the  South,  will  subscribe  to  the  same  thing. 
The  old  Roman  law  gave  the  benefit  of  the 
doubt  to  the  slave,1  but  our  own  law  in  this 
nineteenth  century  took  a  step  backward  from 
pagan  Rome,  and  so  arranged  its  provisions 
that  the  ignorant  black  man  had  no  means  of 
defending  his  own  cause. 

The  act  had  scarcely  become  a  law  when 
some  parts  of  the  North  were  overrun  by  man- 
hunters.     These  were   not  usually  the    owners 

1  Rhodes,  Vol.  I.  p.  186. 


268      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

of  the  alleged  runaway  slaves,  but  their  agents, 
often  coarse,  brutal  men  whose  better  instincts 
had  been  smothered  by  years  of  slave-driving. 
The  law  empowered  these  men,  not  only  to 
capture  and  bring  to  trial  any  negro  they 
might  suspect  of  being  the  fugitive  sought, 
but  also  to  call,  through  the  aid  of  officers, 
on  any  bystanders  to  assist  in  making  the 
capture,  and  imposed  a  penalty  for  refusing. 

The  trial  of  the  negro  was  little  more  than 
a  farce.  The  agent  took  him  before  a  com- 
missioner, appointed  for  the  purpose,  and 
made  oath  that  he  was  the  one  sought.  No 
jury  was  required.  The  black  man  could  not 
testify  in  his  own  behalf.  The  law  was  against 
him  in  every  way ;  even  the  commissioner 
was  bribed  by  it,  for  if  he  decided  in  favor 
of  the  agent  he  received  ten  dollars  as  his 
fee,  and  but  half  that  sum  if  he  discharged 
the  negro. 

It  was  evident  that  such  a  law  could  do 
little  but  irritate  all  true  lovers  of  justice. 
At  the  North  it  was  received  by  the  great 
majority  of  the  people  with  every  demonstra- 
tion of  disapproval.     Great  meetings  were  held 


THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILROAD  269 

in  the  cities  throughout  the  North,  and  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  was  denounced  in  un- 
measured terms  as  a  violation  of  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  and  of  the  laws 
of  God.  From  thousands  of  pulpits  the  law 
was  denounced  as  an  unjust  and  wicked 
measure.1 

On  two  grounds  it  was  claimed  that  this 
law  was  unconstitutional.  First,  it  denied 
trial  by  jury,  while  the  seventh  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  guarantees  the  right  of 
trial  by  jury  "when  the  value  in  controversy 
shall  exceed  twenty  dollars."  The  slaveholder 
evaded  this  by  claiming  that  there  was  no 
controversy  between  persons,  since  the  slave 
was  only  a  piece  of  property,  and  had  no 
rights  before  the  law.  Second,  it  was  an 
ex  post  facto  law,  as  applied  to  slaves  who  had 
escaped  before  its  passage,  and  all  ex  post  facto 
laws  are  forbidden  by  the   Constitution. 

There  were  some  twenty  thousand  negroes  in 
the  North  who  had  escaped  from  bondage  before 
the  law  was  passed,  many  of  whom  had  lived 
in  the  North  for  many  years,  had  married  and 

1  Wilson's  "  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power,"  Vol.  II.  p.  305. 


270     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

settled  down  to  a  quiet,  industrious  life.  Ah 
of  these  were  subject  to  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  of  1850;  if  found  by  the  owner  or  his 
agent  they  could  be  seized,  torn  from  their 
families,  and  carried  back  to  the  South. 

The  most  objectionable  feature  of  this  law 
to  the  Northern  mind  was  found  in  the  clause 
that  made  it  compulsory  on  a  citizen  to  aid 
the  slave-hunter  in  capturing  his  prey.  Thou- 
sands of  people  in  the  North  believed  that  a 
man  held  in  bondage  for  no  crime  —  simply 
on  account  of  the  color  of  his  skin  and  the 
accident  of  his  birth  —  had  a  right  to  escape, 
if  he  could,  and  their  impulse  was  to  aid 
him  if  in  their  power;  but  the  command  of 
the  law  was  that  they  must  aid  his  pursuer, 
regardless  of  feeling  and  conscience  in  the 
matter.  The  burning  question  then  arose  in 
the  minds  of  many :  Shall  we  obey  the  laws 
of  our  country  or  the  higher  law  of  conscience  ? 
With  a  large  number  the  decision  was  for  the 
latter ;  they  determined  to  resist  the  law  with- 
out regard  to  results.  Any  one  can  readily 
see  with  what  extreme  difficulty  a  law  can  be 
enforced  when  opposed  by  the  moral  conscious- 


THE  UNDERGROUND    RAILROAD  27 1 

ness  of  a  large    portion  of   the    people  in   the 
midst  of  whom  it  is  expected  to  operate. 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  in  Operation 

There  can  be  no  better  way  of  showing  the 
reader  how  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  worked 
than  to  cite  a  few  examples  of  its  practical 
application. 

One  of  the  first  instances  to  attract  atten- 
tion was  the  case  of  William  Smith  of  Colum- 
bia, Lancaster  County,  Pennsylvania.  Smith 
was  a  colored  man  who  had  escaped  from 
slavery  long  before,  and  had  lived  quietly  at 
Columbia  for  several  years  with  his  wife  and 
children.  One  day,  while  working  on  the 
street,  he  saw  a  skve-catcher  approaching 
him,  and,  attempting  to  escape,  he  was  shot 
dead. 

Another  instance,  occurring  in  the  same 
county  in  185 1,  turned  out  differently  and  at- 
tracted far  wider  attention.  A  man  named 
Gorsuch,  from  Baltimore  County,  Maryland, 
with  his  son  and  several  friends,  came  into 
the  county  in  search  of  two  fugitives  who  had 
escaped  three  years   previously.      The   party, 


2^2     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

all  well  armed,  found  their  prey  near  the  little 
town  of  Christiana.  The  negroes  had  taken 
refuge  in  an  old  house,  where,  with  several 
friends  of  their  own  color,  they  determined 
to  fight  for  their  freedom,  the  fugitives  de- 
claring that  they  would  rather  die  than  go 
back  into  slavery.  A  horn  was  blown  as  a 
signal  to  the  colored  people  of  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  in  a  short  time  a  large  number, 
armed  with  guns,  axes,  and  clubs,  had  col- 
lected. Two  white  men  also  appeared,  and 
were  called  on  by  the  officer  in  charge  to 
assist  in  making  the  arrest.  This  they  indig- 
nantly refused  to  do.  They  belonged  to  the 
Society  of  Friends,  and  the  Friends  were  ever 
vigilant  in  assisting  the  slave  when  possible. 
The  Gorsuch  party  demanded  the  surrender 
of  the  fugitives,  and,  on  being  refused,  they 
opened  fire.  The  fire  was  returned  ;  Gorsuch 
was  killed  and  his  son  severely  wounded. 
President  Fillmore  soon  afterward  sent  a  large 
body  of  officers  to  the  scene  to  arrest  the 
offenders.  Several  men  were  brought  to  trial 
for  resisting  the  law,  but  the  moral  sentiment 
in  Pennsylvania  rendered  conviction  extremely 


THE  UNDERGROUND    RAILROAD  273 

difficult,   and  no  punishments    followed.      The 
two  fugitives  were  never  captured. 

On  numerous  occasions  fugitives  were  caught 
and  carried  back  to  the  South ;  but  the  temper 
of  the  northern  people  was  such  that  it  was 
no  easy  task  to  enforce  the  law,  and  the  fugi- 
tive was  usually  able  to  evade  the  slave-hunter ; 
this  was  sometimes  accomplished  by  the  aid 
of  men  who  defied  the  law  and  forcibly  res- 
cued the  negro.  This  is  well  illustrated  in 
the  case  of  the  "  Jerry  rescue  "  at  Syracuse, 
New  York.  In  October,  1851,  a  mulatto  named 
Jerry  McHenry,  an  industrious  mechanic  of 
Syracuse,  being  claimed  by  a  man  from  Mis- 
souri as  his  former  slave,  was  captured  and 
imprisoned  to  await  trial.  Early  in  the  even- 
ing twenty  or  thirty  men,  led  by  Gerrit  Smith, 
a  wealthy,  great-hearted  man,  and  the  Rev. 
Samuel  May,  a  man  of  unwonted  courage,  de- 
termined on  the  rc3cue  of  Jerry.  With  the 
utmost  coolness  they  proceeded  to  the  police- 
office,  overpowered  the  officer,  battered  down 
the  door,  rescued  the  prisoner,  and  placed 
him  in  a  carriage.  After  some  days'  conceal- 
ment  in   the   city,  Jerry  was  sent   to  Canada, 

T 


274     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

where  the  laws  of  England  made  him  a  free 
man. 

The  case  of  Anthony  Burns  of  Boston  at- 
tracted national  attention  and  became  the  most 
famous  of  all  the  captures  under  the  detested 
law.  Burns  was  a  colored  waiter  in  a  Boston 
hotel.  He  was  a  runaway  from  Virginia,  and 
was  captured  by  the  slave-hunters  in  May, 
1854.  In  a  short  time  the  city  was  in  an 
uproar  concerning  Burns,  who  was  confined 
in  the  court-house,  the  laws  of  the  State  pro- 
hibiting the  use  of  the  jail  for  such  a  pur- 
pose. The  New  England  sense  of  justice  was 
deeply  offended,  and  the  people  acted  on  the 
principle  laid  down  by  Sumner  that  they 
would  not  permit  a  man  who  had  lived  peace- 
ably among  them  for  several  years  to  be 
dragged  back  into  slavery. 

An  excited  meeting  was  held  at  Faneuil  Hall 
and  was  addressed  by  Wendell  Phillips  and 
Theodore  Parker.  Late  at  night  this  meeting 
resolved  itself  into  a  mob,  and  the  men  that 
composed  it  proceeded  to  the  court-house  deter- 
mined to  rescue  Burns  if  in  their  power.  Here 
they   found   a   crowd   of  colored  men  already 


THE   UNDERGROUND    RAILROAD  275 

battering  at  the  court-house  doors.  The  militia 
was  called  out  and  the  mob  driven  back.  One 
man  was  killed.  The  prisoner  was  not  rescued, 
and  the  city  remained  like  a  seething  ocean  all 
night.  When  Burns's  trial  came  off,  he  was 
awarded  to  the  claimant.  He  was  marched 
through  the  streets  of  the  city  guarded  by  sev- 
eral hundred  armed  soldiers.  No  further 
attempt  at  his  rescue  was  made,  but  the  streets 
were  lined  with  an  excited  multitude,  hissing 
and  jeering  and  threatening.  The  prisoner  was 
landed  in  a  vessel  waiting  at  the  wharf,  and  it 
was  soon  steaming  away  bearing  him  back  to 
the  land  of  bondage. 

Anthony  Burns's  experience  had  so  pro- 
foundly stirred  public  feeling  in  Massachusetts 
that  it  was  not  difficult  to  raise  a  purse  for  his 
purchase.  This  was  done,  and  his  owner  being 
induced  to  sell  him,  he  was  purchased,  brought 
back  to  the  North,  and  sent  to  Oberlin  College 
in  Ohio,  where  a  few  years  later  he  died. 

Working  of  the  Underground  Railroad 

The  system  of  giving  aid  and  comfort  to 
runaway  slaves  had  its  origin  in  the  early  part 


276     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

of  the  century,  and  later  came  to  be  known  as 
the  Underground  Railroad.  The  term  was 
first  used  in  this  sense  at  Columbia,  Pennsyl- 
vania. Most  of  the  people  of  this  town  were 
in  sympathy  with  the  slave,  and  when  a  fugitive 
arrived  here,  he  was  hidden  or  spirited  away 
by  them.  The  slave-hunters  would  track  their 
property  as  far  as  Columbia,  when  they  lost  all 
trace  or  sign,  and  they  declared  that  "there 
must  be  an  underground  railroad  somewhere."1 

The  system  was  for  many  years  before  the 
Civil  War  carefully  organized,  had  its  regular 
stations  twenty  miles  or  more  apart,  and  did 
most  of  its  work  in  secret.  A  Vigilance  Com- 
mittee in  Philadelphia,  composed  of  the  best 
citizens,  received  the  fugitives  who  came  to 
that  city,  and  furnished  hundreds  of  them  with 
free  tickets  to  Canada. 

Many  of  the  slaves  in  the  South  were  treated 
with  kindness  by  their  masters  and  had  little 
desire  for  freedom ;  others  were  content  to 
remain  in  bondage  because  of  their  gross  igno- 
rance. But  with  a  large  number  —  especially 
those  who  had  picked  up  the  rudiments  of  an 

1  Walton  and  Brumbaugh,  "Stories  of  Pennsylvania,"  p.  271. 


THE  UNDERGROUND   RAILROAD  277 

education  —  there  was  that  longing  for  liberty 
so  natural  to  the  human  heart.  Others  were 
driven  to  seek  their  liberty  by  cruel  treatment, 
and  still  others  because  of  their  fear  of  the 
dreadful  auction  block.  However  humane  the 
slave  owner  might  be,  however  foreign  it  was 
from  his  intention  to  part  with  any  of  his 
servants,  his  sudden  death  or  business  reverses 
might  at  any  time  land  them  on  the  auction 
block  for  the  southern  market ;  and  the  most 
dreadful  thing  that  could  happen  to  the  slave 
of  the  border  States  was  to  be  "sold  to 
Georgia "  or  "  sold  down  the  river  "  to  supply 
the  great  plantations  in  the  South.  When  once 
a  black  was  sold  to  "  a  trader,"  and  carried  to 
the  far  South,  he  was  seldom  seen  or  heard  of 
again  by  his  friends  and  kindred.  Such  a 
separation  of  families  and  the  system  that  pro- 
duced it  can  be  condoned  only  on  the  assump- 
tion that  the  negro  is  devoid  of  those  finer 
feelings,  those  ties  of  consanguinity,  so  charac- 
teristic of  our  own  race.  .  -^ 
Thousands  of  slaves  in  whose  bosoms  burned 
a  longing  for  liberty  were  too  timid  or  too 
ignorant  to  make  an  attempt  to  escape.     They 


278     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

all  knew  that  freedom  lay  in  the  direction  of 
the  north  star,  but  further  than  this  the  major- 
ity knew  nothing,  except  that  the  distance  was 
vast  and  that  the  way  was  fraught  with 
unknown  perils.  Nevertheless,  for  many  years 
before  the  war,  an  average  of  about  a  thousand 
slaves  each  year  escaped  from  their  masters 
into  the  free  States.  The  fugitives  for  the 
most  part  came  from  the  border  States,  and 
comprised  usually  the  most  intelligent  of  the 
race. 

Various  methods  were  used  by  the  slaves  in 
effecting  their  escape.  Some  came  from  the 
far  South,  guided  by  the  north  star  or  by 
the  trend  of  a  mountain  range,  secreting 
themselves  during  the  day.  Some  were 
stowed  away  in  steam-vessels,  others  rowed  in 
open  skiffs  for  hundreds  of  miles,  thus  eluding 
the  keen-scented  bloodhound  and  the  more 
dreaded  slave-catcher.  A  few  reached  the 
North  in  boxes,  sent  as  common  merchandise. 
Women  in  male  attire  and  men  dressed  in  the 
garb  of  women  succeeded  in  reaching  the  land 
of  freedom.  In  a  few  instances  a  slave  with  a 
fair  skin  and  scarcely  distinguishable  from  one 


THE  UNDERGROUND    RAILROAD  (279 

of  the  dominant  race  would  assume  the  habit 
and  importance  of  the  master,  and  take  the 
ordinary  mode  of  conveyance.  The  few  exam- 
ples that  follow  will  give  a  fair  knowledge  of 
the  working  of  the  Underground  Railroad.1 
'Anthony  Blow  was  a  Virginia  slave,  the 
property  of  a  widow,  and,  on  her  death,  was 
about  to  be  transferred  to  her  son-in-law,  a 
young  lawyer.  Anthony  was  quite  black, 
rather  intelligent,  and  of  a  temperament  that 
would  not  submit  to  the  yoke  of  slavery.  He 
had  been  shot  on  three  occasions  for  refusing 
to  be  flogged.  His  new  master  decided  to 
sell  him  to  the  traders  as  soon  as  he  came  in 
possession  of  him,  and  he  taunted  Anthony 
by  frequently  reminding  him  of  this  intention. 
But  when  the  day  of  the  auction  arrived  the 
negro  was  nowhere  to  be  found,  and  the  most 
diligent  search  for  him  proved  unavailing. 
After  concealing  himself  in  the  most  unheard 
of  places,  in  which  he  suffered  almost  death,  he 
found  an  opportunity  to  escape  to  the  North. 
An  employe  on  a  steamship  stowed  him  away 

1See  Still's  "Underground  Railroad,"  Preface.     Most  of  th« 
examples  that  follow  are  taken  from  this  work. 


280     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

in  a  narrow  space  directly  over  the  boiler,  where 
the  heat  was  intolerable.  He  thought,  how- 
ever, that  he  could  endure  it  for  the  two  days 
required  to  reach  Philadelphia.  But  the  ship 
encountered  a  storm,  was  partially  disabled, 
and  eight  days  elapsed  before  she  reached  the 
northern  port.  At  the  end  of  this  time  the 
stowaway  was  more  dead  than  alive ;  but,  pos- 
sessing a  powerful  frame  and  the  best  of 
health,  and  being  used  to  suffering,  he  soon 
recovered  under  the  fostering  care  of  the  Vigi- 
lance Committee. 

The  story  of  Alfred  Thornton  excited  deep 
interest,  as  related  by  himself  after  reaching 
free  soil.  His  master  was  a  kind  man  and 
Alfred  was  his  constant  companion ;  the  rela- 
tion between  the  two  was  that  of  friends.  No 
slave  in  the  South  was  more  contented  with  his 
lot  than  Alfred  Thornton.  But  the  master  met 
with  serious  business  embarrassment.  One  day 
as  Alfred  was  at  work  he  saw  the  constable 
and  a  trader  approaching  him.  He  grew 
anxious  as  they  came  up,  and  when  they  took 
hold  of  him  he  understood  all  in  an  instant. 
He  leaped  from  their  grasp  and  ran  with  all 


THE  UNDERGROUND   RAILROAD  28 1 

the  speed  in  his  power  to  find  his  master  The 
trader  fired  two  shots  at  him  without  effect 
Finding  his  master,  Alfred  threw  his  arms 
about  his  neck,  and  cried,  "  Oh !  Massa,  have 
you  sold  me?"  "Yes,"  was  the  answer.  "To 
a  trader?"  "Yes."  "Oh!  Massa,  Massa, 
why  did  you  not  sell  me  to  some  of  the  neigh- 
bors ? "     "  I  don't  know,"  was  the  dry  answer. 

Alfred,  now  seeing  the  constable  and  trader 
approaching,  released  his  hold  and  ran  again. 
After  running  about  a  mile  he  leaped  into  a 
mill-pond,  where  he  remained  for  two  hours 
holding  his  face  above  the  water.  While  in 
this  position  the  thought  first  came  to  him  that 
he  would  strike  for  freedom ;  and  after  many 
weary  days  he  succeeded  in  crossing  Mason 
and  Dixon's  Line. 

In  the  spring  of  1859  a  southern  lady  of 
wealth  and  refinement  who  stood  high  in 
church  and  social  circles  was  travelling  in  the 
North  with  a  slave  woman  called  Cordelia. 
She  stopped  at  Philadelphia  and  took  up  lodg- 
ing in  a  fashionable  boarding-house,  where  she 
received  attentions  from  the  ttite  of  the  city. 
Cordelia,    a    half-white    woman    of    fifty-seven 


282     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

years,  neat  and  respectful,  was  her  body-ser- 
vant, and  attended  all  her  wants.  The  lady 
professed  to  have  no  fear  that  her  servant 
would  leave  her,  owing  to  kind  treatment  the 
latter  had  always  received.  But  no  sooner  did 
a  member  of  the  committee  inform  the  slave- 
woman  that  under  the  laws  of  Pennsylvania  she 
was  entitled  to  her  freedom,  than  she  eagerly 
seized  the  opportunity.  Her  owner  was  aston- 
ished that  Cordelia  was  ready  to  leave  so  "  kind 
and  indulgent  a  mistress,"  and  she  begged  the 
woman  to  remain  with  her.  The  answer  to  her 
pleadings  can  best  be  given  in  Cordelia's  own 
eloquent  words : 

"  I  have  attended  you  ever  since  you  were 
born ;  I  have  dressed  you  and  combed  your 
hair,  put  on  your  shoes  and  stockings,  and 
nursed  you  in  sickness.  I  stood  by  your 
mother  in  all  her  sickness  and  nursed  her  till 
she  died.  I  waited  on  your  niece  night  and 
day  for  months,  till  she  died.  I  waited  on 
your  husband  in  his  sickness,  and  shrouded 
him  in  death.  What  do  I  get  for  all  this? 
You  sold  all  my  four  children.  When  my  poor 
child   Nancy  was   too   sick  to  work,  you  sent 


THE   UNDERGROUND   RAILROAD  283 

her  to  the  field  and  told  the  overseer  to  whip 
her  every  day  and  make  her  work,  or  kill  her. 
When  he  sent  her  back  and  said,  '  There's  no 
use  to  try,  her  health  won't  stand  it,'  you  sold 
her  to  a  New  Orleans  trader.  In  selling  my 
poor  children,  you  treated  me  as  if  I  had  been 
a  cow;  and  you've  threatened  to  sell  me  on 
the  first  insult.  But  you  won't;  I'm  as  free 
now  as  you  are." 

In  Pennsylvania  there  had  been  a  law  passed 
that  gave  freedom  to  any  slave  who  desired  it, 
if  brought  into  the  State  by  the  owner.  The 
most  notable  case  that  came  under  this  law 
was  that  which  brought  freedom  to  Jane  John- 
son and  her  two  children,  and  which  brought 
national  fame  to  Passmore  Williamson,  a  young 
Philadelphia  lawyer. 

Jane  Johnson  and  her  two  little  boys,  aged 
seven  and  ten  years,  were  the  property  of  a 
prominent  gentleman  of  Washington,  who  was 
appointed  in  1855  to  a  government  commis- 
sion in  Central  America.  While  en  route  to 
New  York,  where  he  was  to  take  a  steamer, 
he  stopped  in  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Williamson, 
hearing  that  a  slaveholder  with  his  slaves  was 


284     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

on  board  the  boat  at  the  wharf  in  the  Dela- 
ware, proceeded  with  a  few  companions  to 
the  boat,  and  informed  the  black  woman  that 
she  and  her  children  were  entitled  to  their 
freedom,  if  they  desired  it.  Before  the  woman 
had  time  to  answer,  her  owner  informed  Mr. 
Williamson  that  "Jane  did  not  wish  to  be 
free,  that  he  would  give  her  her  freedom  at 
some  future  time,  and  that  she  had  children 
in  the  South  from  whom  she  would  refuse  to 
be  separated."  But  Williamson  addressed  him- 
self directly  to  the  woman,  and  told  her  that 
if  she  desired  her  freedom  she  could  have  it 
that  moment  by  rising  and  following  him,  and 
this  she  did. 

Williamson  was  soon  afterward  thrown  into 
prison,  charged  with  "  forcible  abduction  "  and 
contempt  of  court  for  refusing  to  disclose  the 
hiding-place  of  the  rescued  slave-woman.  His 
imprisonment,  covering  several  months,  at- 
tracted widespread  attention.  Hosts  of  friends 
visited  his  cell,  and  he  received  letters  of  sym- 
pathy from  all  parts  of  the  North. 

The  owner  of  Jane  Johnson  immediately  be- 
gan legal  proceedings  to  get  her  back,  declar- 


THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILROAD  285 

ing  that  she  had  been  forcibly  taken  from 
him  against  her  own  will.  But  Jane  set  all 
doubts  at  rest  by  swearing  in  open  court  that 
no  one  forced  her  in  the  least,  that  she  left  the 
boat  of  her  own  free  will,  and  that  she  would 
rather  die  than  go  back  into  slavery. 
/A  novel  means  of  escaping  from  slavery  is 
illustrated  in  the  example  of  Henry  Brown. 
Brown  was  an  unhappy  piece  of  property, 
and,  after  contemplating  long  upon  how  he 
might  escape  from  bondage  to  a  land  of 
liberty,  he  decided  on  the  plan  of  having 
himself  boxed  up  and  sent  by  express.  He 
accordingly  made  a  strong  box  of  wood  three 
feet  long  by  two  feet  wide  and  three  feet 
eight  inches  high.  In  this  box,  lined  with 
baize  and  securely  nailed  up  by  his  best 
friend,  the  negro  was  stowed,  his  supplies  con- 
sisting of  a  few  biscuits  and  a  bladder  of 
water.  The  box  was  sent  from  Richmond, 
Virginia,  to  the  Vigilance  Committee  at  Phila- 
delphia. It  was  marked,  "this  side  up  with 
care ;  "  but  this  did  not  avail  with  the  different 
expressmen,  and  part  of  the  time  it  was  upside* 
down  and  the  occupant  rested  on  his  head. 


286     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

"  Your  case  of  goods  is  shipped,  and  will 
arrive  to-morrow  morning,"  was  the  contents 
of  a  telegram  received  by  a  member  of  the 
Vigilance  Committee  on  the  day  of  the  ship- 
ping of  Brown.  To  avert  suspicion  the  com- 
mittee secured  the  services  of  a  prominent 
merchant  of  the  city  to  receive  the  goods 
from  the  express  office.  The  box  was  soon 
landed  in  a  private  room  of  the  committee, 
and  the  door  safely  bolted.  The  members  of 
the  committee  were  much  agitated.  They 
could  hardly  believe  that  the  colored  man 
would  be  alive  after  spending  twenty-six  hours 
in  such  a  condition.  Great,  therefore,  was 
their  astonishment  and  delight,  when  one  of 
them  rapped  gently  on  the  box  and  said,  "All 
right,"  and  was  instantly  answered  by  .a  faint 
voice  from  within,  "All  right,  sir  !  " 

In  a  few  moments,  with  saw  and  hatchet,  the 
lid  was  removed,  and  Brown  emerged  as  one 
rising  from  the  dead.  From  this  time  forth  he 
was  called  Henry  "  Box  "  Brown.  After  shak- 
ing hands  with  his  deliverers  he  informed  them 
that  he  had  promised  himself  when  leaving 
Richmond  that  his   arrival  hymn,  if  he  lived, 


THE  UNDERGROUND    RAILROAD  287 

should  be  the  fortieth  Psalm.     His  small  audi- 
( 

ence  grew  solemnly  silent,  and  he  sang  slowly 
and  touchingly,  in  the  hollow,  musical  voice 
peculiar  to  his  race,  the  Psalm  beginning,  "  I 
waited  patiently  for  the  Lord  ;  and  he  inclined 
^unto  me  and  heard  my  cry." 

In  almost  every  issue  of  the  southern  news- 
papers during  the  period  just  preceding  the 
Civil  War,  advertisements  of  runaway  slaves 
appeared.  The  following,  from  a  paper  dated 
October,  1857,  is  a  fair  sample  : 2  — 

"  $2000  Reward.  —  Ran  away  from  the  sub- 
scriber on  Saturday  night,  the  twenty-fourth 
inst,  fourteen  head  of  negroes,  viz  : "  (here 
follows  the  name  and  description  of  each). 

"  I  will  give  $  1 000,  if  taken  in  the  county, 
$1500  if  taken  out  of  the  county  and  in  the 
State,  and  $2000  if  taken  out  of  the  State  ;  in 

either  case  to  be  lodged  in  the jail,  so  that 

I  can  get  them  again.     Samuel  P . 

"  P.  S.  Since  writing  the  above,  I  have  dis- 
covered that  my  negro  woman,  Sarah  Jane, 
twenty-five  years  old,  stout  built  and  chestnut 
color,  has  also  run  off.     S.  P." 

1  See  Still's  "  Underground  Railroad,"  p.  101. 


288     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

We  close  this  chapter  by  relating  one  more 
escape  by  means  of  the  Underground  Railroad 
—  one  that  appears  more  like  a  romance  .than 
an  occurrence  in  real  life.  William  Craft  and 
his  wife,  Ellen,  were  slaves  on  a  Georgia  plan- 
tation. They  longed  for  liberty  ;  but  the  dis- 
tance to  free  soil  was  great,  and  the  obstacles  to 
freedom  seemed  insurmountable.  William  was 
of  a  chestnut  color,  while  his  wife  was  so  fair 
that  she  could  pass  for  a  white  woman. 

At  length  these  two  seized  on  a  bold  plan  for 
effecting  their  escape  from  bondage.  Ellen 
was  to  dress  in  man's  attire  and  travel  as  a 
young  planter  with  William  as  the  servant.  A 
fashionable  suit  of  clothes  was  soon  procured, 
and  the  woman's  hair  was  trimmed  in  the  style 
worn  by  the  southern  gentlemen.  But  there 
were  many  precautions  necessary.  Ellen  was 
beardless,  and  to  overcome  this  difficulty  the 
young  planter's  face  was  muffled  up  as  if  he 
were  suffering  with  neuralgia.  In  fact,  it  was 
decided  that  the  young  man  must  seem  very 
much  indisposed  and  journeying  northward  for 
medical  treatment.  To  obviate  the  necessity  of 
registering  at  hotels  the  right  arm  was  placed 


THE  UNDERGROUND    RAILROAD  289 

in  a  sling ;  large  green  spectacles  were  worn  to 
hide  the  feminine  eyes.  To  avoid  making 
acquaintances  he  was  to  be  very  hard  of  hear- 
ing, and  refer  all  questions  to  the  servant. 

They  both  played  their  parts  most  skilfully. 
Ellen,  when  approached  by  any  one,  assumed 
an  air  of  bold  superiority,  and  referred  all  ques- 
tions to  the  servant,  who  was  exceedingly  active 
and  attentive  to  his  young  master.  They 
stopped  at  first-class  hotels  in  Charleston  and 
in  Richmond  without  creating  suspicion ;  but 
a  serious  obstacle  confronted  them  in  Balti- 
more. When  William  applied  at  the  ticket- 
office  for  tickets  to  Philadelphia,  the  agent  in- 
formed him  that  it  was  a  rule  of  the  office  to 
require  bonds  for  all  negroes  applying  for 
tickets  to  go  North,  and  none  but  gentlemen 
of  well-known  responsibility  could  obtain  them. 

The  servant  assumed  a  very  innocent  air  and 
replied  that  he  knew  nothing  about  that,  his 
mastei  was  hastening  to  Philadelphia  for  medi- 
cal treatment,  and  his  health  was  so  frail  that  it 
was  feared  he  would  not  hold  out  till  he  reached 
that  city.  The  agent,  at  last  convinced  of  the 
urgency  of  the  case,  threw  out  the  tickets,  and 
u 


29O     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

a  few  hours  later  the  fugitives  reached  the  City 
of  Brotherly  Love.  After  remaining  here  for 
some  time  it  was  thought  prudent  to  seek  a 
home  farther  from  the  bounds  of  slavery,  and 
they  went  to  Boston,  where,  the  fame  of  their 
marvellous  escape  having  preceded  them,  they 
were  received  with  a  royal  welcome.  Here 
they  lived,  with  no  attempt  at  concealment,  for 
two  years  —  until  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was 
passed  —  when  it  was  learned  that  two  slave- 
hunters  were  prowling  about  the  city  in  search 
of  them. 

William  and  Ellen  Craft  had  made  many 
friends  in  Boston,  among  whom  were  Theodore 
Parker,  the  famous  preacher,  and  William 
Lloyd  Garrison,  editor  of  the  Liberator.  Their 
friends  avowed  that  on  no  pretext  should  they 
be  dragged  back  into  bondage,  that  they  would 
defend  the  fugitives  at  all  hazards.  When, 
however,  it  was  found  that  warrants  had  been 
issued  for  the  arrest  of  the  Crafts,  when  it 
was  seen  that  their  freedom  could  be  main- 
tained in  Boston  only  by  the  shedding  of  blood, 
an  easier  method  was  devised,  a  purse  was 
raised  for  them,  and  they  were  sent  rejoicing  on 


THE   UNDERGROUND    RAILROAD  29 1 

their  way  to  England.  The  British  public  was 
familiar  with  the  romantic  story  of  their  escape, 
and  they  were  received  in  London  with  great 
favor  by  all  classes,  including  the  nobility. 
All  fears  of  reenslavement  were  now  removed, 
and  William  and  Ellen  Craft  lived  happily  in 
London  for  many  years,  never  ceasing  as  long 
as  they  lived  to  be  the  objects  of  curious  atten- 
tion from  the  public./// 

The  constant  aid  rendered  by  northern 
people  to  the  runaway  slaves  irritated  the 
people  of  the  South,  and  gave  a  local  coloring 
to  the  growing  strife  between  the  two  great 
sections,  which  found  its  culmination  in  the 
National  Legislature.  This  contention  could 
only  increase  until  the  cause  was  removed, 
and  this  could  be  done  only  by  a  final  appeal 
to  the  arbitrament  of  the  sword.  While  the 
judgment  of  posterity  is  and  must  ever  be 
that  slavery  is  wrong,  and  at  variance  with 
the  spirit  of  Christianity  and  the  onward 
march  of  civilization,  it  is  unjust  to  blame  the 
people  of  the  South  for  the  existence  of 
slavery  on  their  soil.  The  peculiar  institution 
had    been    inherited    from    our    grandfathers' 


292     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

days,  and  our  grandfathers  had  miscalculated, 
when  they  believed  that  it  would  ultimately 
die  and  disappear  of  its  own  accord.  "  Least 
of  all  could  the  North  or  England  cast  a  stone 
at  the  South,  for  each  had  a  hand  in  the 
establishing  of  negro  slavery." 1 

The  South  is  to  be  congratulated  on  the 
results  of  the  Civil  War.  Since  the  removal 
of  that  blighting  institution,  which  weighed 
like  a  nightmare  on  southern  prosperity,  no 
section  of  our  country  has  brighter  prospects 
than  the  sunny  South,  and  every  fair-minded 
citizen  of  that  region  knows  this  to  be  true. 
The  writer  has  talked  with  many  ex-slave- 
holders on  this  subject,  and,  while  some  are 
not  reconciled  to  the  "way  in  which  it  was 
done,"  they  all  agree  that  the  South  is  far 
more  prosperous  since  the  curse  of  slavery 
has  been  removed,  and  under  no  considera- 
tion would  they  have  their  slaves  back  were 
it  in  their  power.  The  Civil  War  was  a  surgi- 
cal operation,  —  severe  indeed,  but  necessary, 
—  and  by  it  the  normal  health  of  the  Nation 
has  been  restored.     Since  that  war  —  since  the 

1  Rhodes,  Vol.  I.  p.  379. 


THE   UNDERGROUND   RAILROAD  293 

downfall  of  slavery  —  the  North  and  the  South 
have  come  to  feel  a  common  brotherhood  as 
never  before ;  and  so  may  it  ever  be ;  may 
there  be  one  grand  harmony  increasing  with 
the  years ! 


CHAPTER   XV 

The  Kansas- Nebraska  Bill 

An  act  of  Congress  passed  in  1854  and 
known  in  history  as  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill 
has  been  pronounced  the  most  momentous 
piece  of  legislation  in  the  United  States  be- 
fore the  Civil  War.  It  came  as  a  shock  upon 
the  country  in  time  of  unwonted  stillness.  For 
more  than  ten  years,  beginning  with  the  Texas 
question  and  ending  with  the  Compromise  of 
1850,  there  had  been  a  succession  of  thunder- 
bolts from  the  political  sky,  all  bearing  on  the 
one  disturbing  element,  slavery.  The  people 
had  grown  weary  of  the  despised  subject  and 
they  longed  for  rest.  With  the  acceptance, 
in  1852,  of  the  Compromise  as  a  finality  by 
both  political  parties,  it  seemed  at  last  that 
(barring  the  local  disturbance  occasioned  by 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law)  the  longed-for  haven 
was  at  hand.  But  in  the  midst  of  the  calm 
294 


THE  KANSAS-NEBRASKA   BILL  295 

there  broke  forth  a  political  storm  more  fierce 
than  any  before  known  to  that  generation.  It 
came  in  the  form  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill, 
the  account  of  which  will  be  preceded  by  a 
brief  review  of  the 

Presidential  Election  of  1852. 

The  Whig  party  in  1852  was  in  a  demoral- 
ized condition,  owing,  principally,  to  the  un- 
popular Omnibus  Bill,  of  which  that  party 
was  the  father.  The  herculean  efforts  of  the 
leaders  to  bring  about  harmony  proved  fruit- 
less. Before  the  Whig  convention,  which 
met  in  Baltimore  in  June,  were  three  candi- 
dates, all  well  known  to  the  American  public. 
First,  President  Fillmore,  the  choice  of  the 
entire  South.  A  Northern  man,  it  is  true, 
was  Fillmore ;  but  he  had  won  the  southern 
heart  by  signing  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and 
now  he  enjoyed  the  support  of  that  entire 
section.  Second,  Winfield  Scott,  the  choice 
of  the  northern  wing  of  the  party,  led  by 
William  H.  Seward.  Scott  was  a  Virginian 
by  birth,  but  he  was  now  known  to  be,  not 
a  slave  propagandist,  but  a  sympathizer  with 


20     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

the  free-soil  sentiment  of  the  North.  The 
third  candidate  was  Daniel  Webster.  The 
following  of  Webster  was  a  personal  follow- 
ing and  was  much  smaller  than  that  of  either 
of  the  others.  He  was  not  seriously  con- 
sidered by  either  of  the  great  wings  of  the 
party,  and  the  real  contest  lay  between  Scott 
and  Fillmore. 

The  southern  delegates  insisted  on  embody- 
ing in  the  platform  a  final  acceptance  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law.  To  this  the  northern 
delegates  demurred,  but  finally  yielded,  with  a 
kind  of  tacit  understanding  that  they  would 
be  allowed  to  name  the  candidate.  Scott  was 
therefore  nominated,  but  not  until  the  fifty- 
third  ballot  had  been  cast,  so  reluctantly  did 
the  South  accept  him.  This  choice,  however, 
did  not  bring  harmony  to  the  party.  The 
South  was  not  satisfied  with  Scott;  because, 
first,  he  refused  to  express  himself  on  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  second,  he  was  too 
intimate  with  Seward,  whom  every  slaveholder 
hated.  A  written  protest,  signed  by  Alexander 
H.  Stephens,  Robert  Toombs,  and  other  lead- 
ing  southern  Whigs,  utterly  repudiated  Scott, 


THE  KANSAS-NEBRASKA  BILL  2ty 

and  declared  that  the  signers  of  it  would  not 
support  him.  In  this  disorganized  condition 
the  Whigs  went  before  the  country  asking  the 
suffrages  of  the  people,  in  1852.  Their  only 
consolation  was  that  the  Democrats  were  in 
little  better  condition. 

The  Democrats,  having  also  met  in  Balti- 
more, the  great  convention  city  of  this  period, 
had  several  leading  candidates  to  choose  from. 
There  was  Cass,  the  stalwart  and  dignified 
leader;  but  Cass  was  weakened  by  his  defeat 
of  four  years  before  at  the  hands  of  General 
Taylor,  and  besides,  he  was  growing  old,  and 
some  called  him  the  old  fogy.  Next,  Buchanan, 
a  leader  among  the  politicians,  but  not  widely 
popular  with  the  masses  outside  his  own  State. 
The  third  candidate  was  a  young  man,  brilliant, 
dashing,  and  of  extraordinary  talents  —  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  of  Illinois.  Douglas  was  but  thirty- 
eight  years  old,  the  youngest  man  ever  seri- 
ously proposed  for  President  of  the  United 
States,  until  the  rise  of  Bryan  in  1896.  But 
Douglas  was  too  young  and  too  dashing  to 
please  the  older  members,  and  this  constituted 
his  weakness  before  the  convention.     A  fourth 


298      SIDE   LIGHTS  ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

candidate  was  ex-Governor  Marcy  of  New  York; 
but,  not  having  made  his  peace  with  his  own 
State,  in  which  he  had  so  lately  been  a  faction 
leader,  how  could  he  expect  the  support  of 
the  Nation  ? 

Thus  each  prominent  candidate  disclosed  a 
weakness  that  prevented  his  nomination.  The 
convention  balloted  forty  times  without  success, 
when  a  "  dark  horse  "  began  to  loom  into  view. 
It  was  a  young  man  from  New  Hampshire, 
named  Franklin  Pierce.  Pierce  was  a  man  of 
some  note.  He  had  been  in  both  Houses  of 
Congress,  had  declined  an  invitation  to  a  place 
in  Polk's  cabinet,  and  had  enlisted  as  a  vol- 
unteer in  the  Mexican  War,  where  the  Presi- 
dent's favor  soon  made  him  a  brigadier-general, 
though  he  knew  little  of  military  affairs.  His 
father,  a  private  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  had 
risen  to  the  governorship  of  New  Hampshire. 
These  advantages,  together  with  his  fine  ap- 
pearance, his  winning  manners,  and  his  jovial 
nature,  made  Franklin  Pierce  a  general  favor- 
ite ;  but  in  no  sense  could  he  be  ranked  among 
the  leading  statesmen  of  his  time. 

Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  an  old  friend  and  col- 


THE   KANSAS-NEBRASKA   BILL  299 

lege  classmate  of  Pierce,  wrote  his  biography, 
which  received  a  wide  circulation,  and  the 
Democrats  were  soon  united  as  one  man  for 
their  candidate  —  a  thing  that  could  not  be 
said  of  the  Whigs.  As  the  campaign  pro- 
gressed it  was  plain  that  Scott  was  losing 
ground.  This  continued  steadily  until  the  elec- 
tion, when  Pierce  was  triumphantly  elected, 
Scott  carrying  but  four  States,  two  in  the  North 
and  two  in  the  South. 

This  was  the  last  National  campaign  of  the 
Whigs.  The  party  was  doomed  and  was  totter- 
ing to  its  fall,  and  ere  another  quadrennial 
election  came  round  the  story  of  its  life  was 
history. 

The  Democratic  party  seemed  now  to  have 
a  powerful  hold  upon  the  country.  None  could 
deny  that  the  future  seemed  to  insure  for  it 
a  long  lease  of  power.  Already  the  leading 
spirits  of  the  party  were  casting  longing  glances 
toward  the  next  presidential  election,  and  never 
before  did  the  glittering  prize  seem  more  sure 
to  the  one  who  should  be  so  fortunate  as  to 
win  the  nomination. 


300     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Stephen  A.  Douglas 

Among  the  aspirants  to  the  great  office  was 
the  young  and  brilliant  leader  from  Illinois, 
and  to  him  must  be  attributed  the  one  ex- 
traordinary act  of  Congress  by  which  the 
Pierce  administration  will  be  remembered  in 
American  history.  Douglas  was  a  native  of 
Vermont ;  he  had  migrated  to  the  prairie  State 
as  a  penniless  youth,  had  first  worked  at  a 
trade,  then  read  law,  and  entered  the  field  of 
politics.  So  rapid  was  his  rise  that  ere  he  had 
reached  his  fortieth  year  he  was  an  acknowl- 
edged leader  in  the  United  States  Senate.  As 
a  popular  leader  representing  the  great  West 
there  was  none  to  dispute  his  sway. 

But  in  those  days  it  was  necessary  for  an 
aspirant  to  the  presidency  to  bring  forth  fruits 
to  win  the  favor  of  the  South,  and  this  Douglas 
had  never  done.  While  searching  about  for 
some  bold  issue  by  which  he  could  make 
himself  champion,  Douglas  decided  upon  the 
all-important  measure  known  as  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill. 

Douglas  was  the  chairman  of  the  Committee 


THE   KANSAS-NEBRASKA   BILL  301 

on  Territories.  There  was  a  vast  tract  of  wil- 
derness called  Nebraska,  lying  north  and  west 
of  Missouri,  and  comprising  almost  half  a  million 
square  miles.  In  January,  1854,  Douglas 
brought  into  the  Senate  a  report  of  the  com- 
mittee providing  for  the  division  of  Nebraska 
into  two  Territories  to  be  known  as  Kansas  and 
Nebraska.  If  that  had  been  all  it  would  have 
attracted  little  attention ;  but  there  was  one 
little  clause  in  the  report  that  caused  all  the 
trouble,  and  that  was  that  each  Territory  should 
decide  for  itself  whether  slavery  should  exist 
within  its  bounds.  This  may  seem  innocent 
enough  at  first  sight ;  but  it  repealed  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise  of  1820.  That  compromise 
had  forbidden  slavery  forever  in  the  Louisiana 
Purchase  north  of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty 
minutes,  and  both  of  these  Territories  lay  north 
of  that  line. 

For  a  whole  generation  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise had  been  looked  upon  as  a  solemn 
compact  as  binding  as  a  treaty  between  the 
North  and  the  South.  It  is  true  the  Congress  of 
1820  had  no  power  to  bind  its  successors;  but 
the  Missouri  Compromise  was  more  than  an  act 


302      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN    HISTORY 

of  Congress.  It  was  a  solemn  agreement  of 
the  people,  and  that  agreement  carried  with 
it  a  moral  force  that  no  subsequent  Congress 
had  a  moral  right  to  disturb.  Thousands  of 
people  at  the  North,  who  were  alarmed  at  the 
growing  power  of  slavery,  had  yet  this  one 
consolation :  It  cannot  come  beyond  the 
forbidden  line  of  thirty-six-thirty.  But  now 
suddenly,  unexpectedly,  unasked  by  North  or 
South,  Douglas  sprung  upon  the  country  this 
Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  annulling  the  Missouri 
Compromise,  and  enabling  the  slaveholder  to 
carry  his  human  property  into  the  Territories  of 
the  Northwest. 

Douglas  had  consulted  with  two  persons 
before  taking  the  important  step  —  President 
Pierce  and  his  secretary  of  war,  Jefferson 
Davis.1  These  three  had  a  long  conference  on 
Sunday,  January  the  22d,  and  they  agreed 
that  the  Missouri  Compromise  should  be  re- 
pealed. On  the  next  day  Douglas  brought  the 
bill  before  the  Senate.  But  Douglas  did  not 
have  smooth  sailing.  There  were  powerful 
leaders  in  his  own  party  whom  he  could   not 

1  Schouler,  Vol.  V.  p.  282. 


THE  KANSAS-NEBRASKA   BILL  303 

control.  Before  the  close  of  January  these  had 
published  a  vigorous  protest  in  the  form  of  an 
"  Appeal  of  the  Independent  Democrats  in  Con- 
gress to  the  People  of  the  United  States."  This 
was  written  by  Chase  and  signed  by  the 
leading  Free-soil  Democrats  in  Congress ;  and  it 
marked  the  beginning  of  the  great  revulsion  of 
political  parties  brought  about  in  the  following 
years  by  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Act. 

The  news  that  such  an  act  was  about  to  be 
thrust  upon  the  country  fell  like  a  bomb  in 
every  section  of  the  North.  The  people  were 
first  dumfounded  at  the  audacity  of  Congress 
in  thrusting  such  a  measure  upon  them  without 
making  it  an  issue  in  any  campaign.  When 
they  recovered  from  their  first  astonishment 
they  made  themselves  heard.  The  newspapers, 
with  few  exceptions,  denounced  the  proposed 
act  with  great  vehemence ;  various  State  legis- 
latures raised  their  voices  of  protest.  Excited 
multitudes  assembled  in  the  cities  and  towns 
throughout  the  North  to  protest  against  the 
measure,  and  the  moral  indignation  that  pre- 
vailed had  never  been  equalled  since  the  battle 
of  Lexington  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution.1 

1  Rhodes,  Vol.  I.  p.  463. 


304     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Let  us  take  a  view  of  the  Senate.  One  man 
there  attracts  the  attention  of  the  country.  He 
is  rather  short  of  stature  and  compactly  built, 
has  a  smooth-shaven  face,  raven-black  hair, 
keen,  penetrating  eyes,  and  deep,  melodious 
voice.  It  is  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  the  "  Little 
Giant  from  the  West."  Douglas  was  the 
acknowledged  leader  of  the  dominant  party  in 
Congress,  and  as  a  parliamentary  debater  he 
had  no  equal  in  the  Nation.  His  extraordinary 
powers  lay,  not  in  his  extensive  learning,  for  he 
was  not  highly  educated,  but  rather  in  his  subtle 
power  of  reasoning,  his  ability  to  becloud  and 
belittle  the  best  argument  of  an  opponent,  to 
throw  the  main  points  in  the  background,  and 
to  bring  forth  some  unimportant  matter,  and 
make  his  hearers  believe  that  it  was  the  thing 
after  all.  There  was  not  a  man  in  the  Senate 
who  could  evade  his  cunning  or  withstand  him 
in  debate. 

But  the  opposition  must  not  be  underrated. 
There  were  Salmon  P.  Chase  and  Benjamin 
Wade  of  Ohio,  Sumner  and  Edward  Everett  of 
Massachusetts,  Seward  of  New  York,  Sam 
Houston  of  Texas,  the  old  hero  of  San  Jacinto, 


THE  KANSAS-NEBRASKA   BILL  305 

and  others  of  lesser  note.  These  made  a  strong 
coalition  against  the  proposed  measure,  and 
they  disputed  the  ground  inch  by  inch  ;  but  the 
skill  and  genius  of  Douglas  triumphed  over 
them  all.  The  bill  passed  the  Senate  on  the 
fourth  of  March  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
after  Douglas  had  spoken  all  night. 

This  last  speech  of  the  Illinois  senator  on  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  was  the  greatest  he  ever 
made.  A  short  time  before  midnight  he  ap- 
peared before  the  crowded  chamber  with  the 
conscious  strength  of  a  gladiator  entering  the 
arena.  His  eyes  were  lit  with  the  fire  of  genius. 
Knowing  that  the  country  had  already  con- 
demned him,  and  believing  this  to  be  his  great 
opportunity  to  vindicate  himself,  he  now  put 
forth  his  best  efforts ;  and  the  skill  and  power 
with  which  he  advocated  his  measure  won  the 
admiration  even  of  his  opponents. 

When  the  bill  passed  the  boom  of  cannon 
from  the  navy-yard  announced  the  victory  to 
the  sleeping  city.  As  Chase  walked  down  the 
Capitol  steps  in  the  gray  dawn  of  that  morning, 
he  exclaimed  to  his  friend  Sumner,  "They 
celebrate  a  present  victory,  but  the  echoes  they 


306      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

awake  will  never  rest  until  slavery  itself  shall 
die."  Late  in  May  the  famous  act  passed  thex 
House,  was  signed  by  the  President,  and  be- 
came the  law  of  the  land. 

Reception  of  the  Bill  at  the  North 

""-  Stephen  A.  Douglas  was  a  lover  of  his 
country,  and,  at  heart,  no  doubt  an  honest  man. 
Had  he  foreseen  what  a  storm  of  indignation  his 
favorite  measure  would  create  in  the  free  States, 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  he  never  would 
have  brought  it  forth.  In  bidding  for  southern 
favor  he  had  sacrificed  his  popularity  in  his 
own  section.  Next  to  Douglas  the  one  who 
reaped  the  greatest  harvest  of  dishonor  was 
Franklin  Pierce.  He  was  the  one  man  who 
could  have  prevented  the  enactment  of  the 
law,  but,  like  most  of  the  politicians  of  the 
time,  he  was  unable  to  rise  above  an  obsequious 
truckling  to  the  Slavocracy.  The  anger  of  the 
people  was  fierce  and  implacable.  Douglas  was 
burned  in  effigy  in  many  places,  and  was  bit- 
terly denounced  throughout  the  free  States. 
Attempting  to  make  a  speech  in  his  own  city, 
Chicago,  he  was  hooted  off  the  stage.     He  was 


THE   KANSAS-NEBRASKA   BILL  30) 

called  the  Esau  who  sold  his  New  England 
birthright,  the  betrayer  of  his  country,  Judas 
Iscariot,  and  the  like;  and  a  society  of  women 
in  Ohio  reached  the  acme  of  contempt  by  send- 
ing him  thirty  pieces  of  silver. 

The  leaders  of  the  party  in  power  had  thus 
enacted  into  law  a  measure  the  importance  of 
which  can  scarcely  be  overestimated ;  but  in  so 
doing  they  had  made  one  fatal  blunder  —  they"! 
had  not  consulted  the  people  !  The  people  are 
the  masters  in  this  country,  say  what  they  will 
of  political  bosses.  The  people  may  be  disre- 
garded and  their  rights  trampled  under  foot  for 
a  time,  but  they  will  eventually  rise  and  assert 
their  power,  and  woe  to  the  public  man  who 
dares  disregard  them  !  However  popular,  how- 
ever powerful,  a  political  leader  may  be,  if  he 
set  himself  against  and  defy  the  masses  of  the 
citizens  who  have  raised  him  to  power,  he  will 
soon  find  himself  crushed  by  the  ponderous 
weight  of  public  opinion. 

Douglas  had  failed  to  count  the  cost.  Dash- 
ing, brilliant  leader  that  he  was,  only  forty-one 
years  old,  he  had  won  the  American  heart  as 
few  had  ever  done  before ;  but  now  he  oversteps 


308     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

the  limit  of  public  forbearance,  and  he  finds 
himself  dashed  to  the  ground  like  a  broken 
toy,  and  his  presidential  prospects  forever 
blasted. 

Results  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Civil  War  was 
hastened  by  this  famous  legislation  of  1854. 
Some  even  claim  that  there  would  have  been 
no  war  but  for  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise ;  this  is  perhaps  claiming  too  much. 
But  the  bill  had  a  wonderful  effect  in  breaking 
up  old  party  lines  at  the  North.  Most  of  the 
new  States  of  the  Northwest  had  been  solidly 
Democratic  from  the  time  of  their  admission 
into  the  Union,  but  now  they  abandoned  their 
first  love,  and  some  have  never  since  returned 
to  it.  The  same  is  true  of  several  States  in 
the  East.  The  Kansas-Nebraska  law  gave  a 
final  blow  to  the  expiring  Whig  party,  and 
opened  the  way  for  the  formation  of  a  new 
party.  The  founding  of  the  Republican  party 
within  the  same  year  must  be  named  as  an 
indirect  result  of  the  passage  of  this  law. 

The  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  caused  the  border 


THE   KANSAS-NEBRASKA   BILL  309 

warfare  in  Kansas ;  it  rendered  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  a  dead  letter  throughout  the  North ; 
it  brought  forth  that  other  son  of  Illinois, 
greater  than  the  "  Little  Giant,"  into  the  arena 
of  national  politics.1  It  brought  about  the 
great  political  revolution  of  i860;  it  marked 
the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the  more  than  a 
half  century  of  Democratic  rule  in  the  United 
States. 

1  Rhodes,  Vol.  I.  p.  490. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

The  Lincoln-Douglas  Debates 

The  great  political  discussion  known  by  the 
above  heading  was,  with  reference  to  the  high 
character  of  the  contestants  and  the  importance 
of  the  subjects  discussed,  the  most  significant 
of  its  kind  in  American  history.  The  contest 
was  certainly  a  battle  of  the  giants,  and  the 
impression  it  made  on  the  country  was  deep 
and  lasting. 

A    View  of  the  Two  Men 

The  principals  in  this  great  duel,  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  and  Abraham  Lincoln,  had  much 
in  common.  Both  had  risen  from  poverty  and 
obscurity  —  one,  born  among  the  New  England 
hills,1  had  sought  his  fortune  in  the  great  West 
while  still  a  boy,  had  entered  the  political  arena 
in  his  early  manhood,  and  had  risen  until  he 

1  See  Chapter  XV. 
310 


THE   LINCOLN-DOUGLAS   DEBATES  311 

now  held  the  most  conspicuous  position  in  the 
highest  legislative  body  in  the  United  States; 
the  other,  born  in  a  slave  State  among  the  low- 
liest of  the  lowly,  had  in  early  childhood  crossed 
the  border,  and  was  reared  among  the  untu- 
tored backwoodsmen,  where  he  picked  up  a 
meagre  education  as  best  he  could,  had  en- 
tered public  life,  and,  after  varying  fortunes 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  was  now  the  ac- 
knowledged leader  of  his  party  in  his  State. 
Both  had  made  the  broad  prairie  of  the  West 
their  permanent  home.  They  had  served  to- 
gether in  the  Illinois  legislature  many  years 
before,  and  since  then  had  been  personal 
friends.  They  had  attended  the  same  horse- 
races, eaten  at  the  same  table,  and,  it  is  said, 
had  loved  the  same  maiden.  They  were  both 
honest,  fearless,  able,  and  keenly  ambitious  to 
rise  in  public  life.  Both  were  sanguine,  jovial, 
and  companionable ;  and  each  possessed  the 
rare  quality  of  winning  a  large  circle  of  friends. 
These  two  political  gladiators  now  stood  upon 
the  same  platform  in  the  summer  and  autumn 
of  1858,  and  addressed  the  same  audience  in 
seven    different    Illinois    towns,    on   the    most 


312     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

momentous  question  that  ever  disturbed  the 
harmony  of  the  Republic ;  two  years  later  they 
were  to  stand  at  the  head  of  their  respective 
parties  and  ask  the  suffrages  of  their  countrymen 
for  the  highest  office  in  their  power  to  bestow. 

But  the  points  of  difference  between  Lincoln 
and  Douglas  are  more  marked  than  their  points 
of  resemblance.  Douglas  was  low  in  stature, 
compactly  built,  and  his  voice  was  that  of  the 
trained  orator;  Lincoln  was  tall  and  awkward 
in  appearance,  his  voice  was  rather  high-pitched 
and  unpleasant.  Douglas  was  bold  and  defiant 
in  style,  fluent  in  speech,  severe  in  denuncia- 
tion; Lincoln  possessed  the  power  of  putting 
his  thoughts  in  a  terse,  simple,  epigrammatic 
form,  so  logical  that  even  his  great  opponent 
with  all  his  powers  of  casuistry  could  not  escape 
their  force.  Douglas  had  reached  the  zenith  of 
his  power,  and  for  four  years  past  had  held 
his  lofty  position  amid  adverse  political  winds 
only  by  his  marvellous  courage  and  fortitude ; 
Lincoln  was  just  emerging  from  comparative 
obscurity,  and  was  soon  to  surpass  his  antag- 
onist and  become  the  leading  American' of  his 
time. 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES  313 

Both  men  were  among  the  greatest  public 
characters  that  our  free  institutions  have  pro- 
duced. The  time,  moreover,  of  their  coming 
together  was  portentous.  It  was  a  time  when 
the  forces  of  slavery  and  freedom  had  grappled 
in  a  deadly  struggle  for  supremacy  in  the  Gov- 
ernment. Considering  the  standing  of  the  rivals 
about  to  engage  in  this  debate,  the  time  of  their 
meeting,  and  the  universal  interest  in  the  sub- 
ject to  be  discussed,  there  is  no  wonder  that  the 
eyes  of  the  whole  country  were  turned  for  a 
season  toward  the  prairie  State. 

Preliminaries       Vf^ 

Stephen  A.  Douglas  had  been  for  several 
years  the  foremost  leader  of  his  party,  and  his 
party  had  full  control  of  the  Government.  His 
popularity  had  suffered  severe  reverses  through- 
out the  North,  it  is  true,  on  account  of  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  Bill ;  but  he  had  largely  re- 
gained his  former  prestige  by  the  brave  stand 
he  took  later  on  the  affairs  in  Kansas. 

The  trouble  in  Kansas  arose  from  an  attempt 
to  put  into  operation  the  provisions  of  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  Act  in  that  Territory.     The 


314     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

South  was  exceedingly  anxious  to  gain  another 
slave  State  so  as  to  restore  its  power  in  the 
United  States  Senate,  which  had  been  broken 
by  the  admission  of  California  as  a  free  State. 
The  slaveholders,  therefore,  determined  to  make 
Kansas  their  prize,  and  the  proslavery  party 
from  Missouri  poured  into  the  Territory  in 
large  numbers  with  the  intent  of  carrying  the 
elections  and  making  Kansas  a  slave  State.  But 
the  northern  people  were  on  the  alert.  Bands 
of  emigrants  came  from  all  sections  of  the 
North,  with  an  equal  determination  to  make 
Kansas  a  free  State.  The  two  parties  came  to- 
gether, and  there  was  fierce  conflict  resulting 
in  much  bloodshed. 

This  border  warfare,  as  it  was  called,  con- 
tinued for  several  years,  and  was  the  most 
annoying  of  all  public  questions  at  the  time 
when  Mr.  Buchanan  became  President  in  1857. 
President  Buchanan  was  very  anxious  to  settle 
the  matter  without  offending  either  side;  but 
his  sympathies  were  obviously  with  the  South. 
He  prevailed  on  Mr.  Robert  J.  Walker,  of  Mis- 
sissippi, who  had  been  a  member  of  President 
Polk's   cabinet,    to  accept  the  governorship  oi 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS   DEBATES  315 

Kansas,  and  pledged  him  the  support  of  the 
administration  in  securing  justice  for  that  much 
disturbed  Territory. 

Mr.  Walker  was  a  slaveholder,  and  his  sym- 
pathies were  with  the  South  ;  but  he  was  an 
honest  man,  and  his  sincere  desire  was  to  deal 
justice  to  both  sides.  But  scarcely  had  he 
reached  Kansas  when  he  found  that  the  pro- 
slavery  party  was  carrying  things  with  a  high 
hand.  A  proslavery  legislature,  elected  by 
fraud,1  met  at  Lecompton  and  framed  the 
famous  Lecompton  Constitution,  making  Kansas 
a  slave  State  without  honestly  submitting  the 
matter  to  a  vote  of  the  people.  The  honest 
soul  of  Governor  Walker  revolted  against  such 
proceedings,  and  he  openly  opposed  the  work 
of  the  legislature. 

President  Buchanan  had  promised  to  sustain 
Walker ;  but  from  some  cause,  probably  the  in- 
fluence of  certain  members  of  his  cabinet,  he 
now   abandoned    his    friend,    and   decided    to 

1  Oxford,  Johnson  County,  returned  1628  votes.  It  was  found 
to  be  a  village  of  but  six  houses.  The  names  had  been  copied 
from  a  Cincinnati  directory.  Many  precincts  showed  similar 
false  returns.     See  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Vol.  II.  p.  105. 


316     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

recommend  the  Lecompton  Constitution  to 
Congress  in  his  annual  message  in  December 
Walker  was  mortified  and  chagrined  at  this 
action  of  the  President,  and,  like  his  three  un- 
fortunate predecessors,  he  resigned  the  govern- 
orship and  retired  to  private  life. 

But  President  Buchanan  had  an  obstacle  to 
encounter  that  was  beyond  his  power  to  over- 
come. He  had  a  greater  man  than  Governor 
Walker  to  deal  with,  and  that  was  Stephen  A. 
Douglas.  A  few  days  before  the  opening  of 
Congress,  Douglas  called  on  the  President  and 
protested  against  his  recommending  the  Le- 
compton Constitution,  without  first  submitting  it 
to  a  vote  of  the  people  of  Kansas.  Buchanan 
warned  Douglas  not  to  interfere,  nor  to  oppose 
the  administration,  or  he  might  soon  find  his 
political  career  at  an  end.  But  Douglas  with 
great  courage  and  with  great  power  denounced 
the  fraudulent  Lecompton  Constitution  in  the 
Senate ;  and  the  result  was  the  defeat  of 
the  President,  not  in  the  Senate,  but  in  the 
House. 

Thus  Douglas  regained  a  large  part  of  his 
lost  popularity  in  the  North,  but  in  so  doing  he 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS   DEBATES  317 

sacrificed  much  of  his  newly  won  laurels  in  the 
South,  besides  making  a  permanent  political 
enemy  of  President  Buchanan. 

The  Republican  newspapers  praised  him  for 
his  bold  stand  for  justice  and  fair  play  in 
Kansas,  while  some  of  the  Democratic  papers 
abused  him  without  mercy. 

Douglas's  third  senatorial  term  was  drawing 
to  a  close,  and  the  election  of  the  Illinois  leg- 
islature in  the  autumn  of  1858  must  determine 
who  should  be  his  successor.  Some  of  the 
leading  Republican  papers,  including  the  New 
York  Tribune,  now  advocated  the  reelection  of 
Douglas  on  the  ground  that  he  would  continue 
the  fight  with  the  administration  and  split  the 
Democratic  party. 

Horace  Greeley  of  New  York  and  Senator 
Crittenden  of  Kentucky  urged  the  Illinois  Re- 
publicans not  to  oppose  the  election  of  the 
Democratic  senator ;  but  with  this  request  they 
refused  to  comply.  Many  of  the  Republicans 
of  Illinois  had  been  old  line  Whigs;  Douglas 
had  been  their  chief  opponent  for  a  generation, 
and  now  they  found  it  impossible  to  overcome 
their  old  prejudices  and  assist  in  sending  him 


318     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN    HISTORY 

back  to  the  Senate,  and  hence  they  producec 
their  own  candidate  in  the  person  of  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

The  Challenge 

The  Republican  State  convention  met  at 
Springfield,  Illinois,  in  June,  1858,  and  nomi- 
nated Abraham  Lincoln  as  their  first  and  only 
choice  for  United  States  senator.  Lincoln  was 
then  called  for,  and  he  rose  to  speak  amid  the 
greatest  enthusiasm.  The  speech  that  he  now 
made  was  one  of  the  most  logical  ever  delivered 
on  the  all-important  subject  of  slavery,  and  in  it 
he  made  the  statement  that  afterward  gave  him 
National  fame. 

"A  house  divided  against  itself,"  he' said, 
"  cannot  stand.  I  believe  this  Government  can- 
not endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half 
free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dis- 
solved, I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall,  but  I 
do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will 
become  all  one  thing  or  all  the  other."  This 
expression  was  far  in  advance  of  public  opinion 
even  in  the  newly  founded  Republican  party. 
Before  delivering  this  speech  Lincoln  had  read 


THE   LINCOLN-DOUGLAS   DEBATES  319 

it  to  the  party  managers,  and  they  all  save  one 
disapproved  it,  and  urged  that  the  above  ex- 
pression be  omitted.  Lincoln's  heroic  answer 
was :  "  If  it  is  decreed  that  I  should  go  down 
because  of  this  speech,  then  let  me  go  down 
linked  with  the  truth  —  let  me  die  in  the  ad- 
vocacy of  what  is  just  and  right.  ...  I  would 
rather  be  defeated  with  this  expression  in  the 
speech,  than  be  victorious  without  it." 1   _ 

In  reference  to  the  attempt  of  the  eastern 
Republicans  to  have  Douglas  sent  back  to  the 
Senate,  Lincoln  said  in  the  same  speech, 
"  They  remind  us  that  he  is  a  great  man  and 
that  the  largest  of  us  are  very  small  ones.  Let 
this  be  granted.  .  .  .  How  can  he  oppose  the 
advance  of  slavery?  He  does  not  care  any- 
thing about  it.  His  avowed  mission  is  impress- 
ing the  public  heart  to  care  nothing  about  it. 
.  .  .  Our  cause,  then,  must  be  intrusted  to 
and  conducted  by  its  own  undoubted  friends  — 
those  whose  hands  are  free,  whose  hearts  are  in 
the  work  —  who   do  care   for  the   result.2  .  .  . 

1  Rhodes,  Vol.  II.  p.  315. 

2  Douglas  had  said  in  the  Senate  that  he  did  not  care  U 
slavery  in  the  Territories  was  voted  down  or  voted  up. 


320     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

I  wish  not  to  misrepresent  Judge  Douglas's 
position,  question  his  motives,  or  do  aught  that 
can  be  personally  offensive  to  him.  Whenever, 
if  ever,  he  and  we  can  come  together  on  princi- 
ple, so  that  our  cause  may  have  assistance  from 
his  great  ability,  I  hope  to  have  interposed  no 
adventitious  obstacle.  But  clearly,  he  is  not 
with  us  —  he  does  not  pretend  to  be  —  he  does 
not  promise  ever  to  be." 

Lincoln  was  not  ignorant  of  the  greatness  of 
the  task  he  had  undertaken.  He  well  knew 
that  he  was  scarcely  known  beyond  the  bounds 
of  his  own  State,  while  his  opponent  enjoyed  a 
National  fame  not  equalled  by  that  of  any  other 
man.  He  knew  that  the  masses  almost  idolized 
the  Little  Giant,  as  Douglas  was  called,  but 
that  his  own  following  was  for  the  most  part 
yet  to  be  won. 

But  Lincoln  was  nevertheless  anxious  to 
arrange  a  series  of  joint  debates  in  order  that 
the  two  might  speak  from  the  same  platform. 
This  he  thought  would  be  the  best  way  to  bring 
the  issue  squarely  before  the  people ;  he  there- 
fore decided  to  challenge  Douglas  to  such  a  dis- 
cussion.    This  was  a  bold  move  on  the  part  of 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS   DEBATES  32 1 

Lincoln,  for  his  opponent  was  the  acknowl- 
edged champion  public  speaker  in  the  United 
States.  He  had  measured  swords  on  the  floor 
of  the  Senate  with  Seward,  Chase,  Corwin, 
Sumner,  and  many  others,  and  had  surpassed 
them  all.  Lincoln's  proposal  therefore  proved 
not  only  that  he  had  unbounded  confidence  in 
the  justice  of  his  cause,  but  also  in  his  ability 
to  present  it. 

On  July  the  24th  he  addressed  a  brief  note 
to  the  Democratic  candidate  asking  if  it  would 
be  agreeable  to  him  to  arrange  a  series  of  joint 
debates  before  the  same  audiences.  Douglas 
answered  on  the  same  day,  stating  that  his 
dates  had  already  been  fixed  for  almost  the 
entire  campaign  ;  but  in  order  to  accommodate 
his  rival  he  was  willing  to  arrange  for  one 
joint  meeting  in  each  congressional  district, 
except  the  two  in  which  they  had  both  al- 
ready spoken.  It  was  agreed  therefore  that 
they  speak  from  the  same  platform  in  seven 
different  towns  on  dates  beginning  the  21st 
of  August  and  ending  the  15th  of  October.1 

1  The  times  and  places  of  the  seven  debates  are  as  follows  : 
Ottawa,  August  21 ;  Freeport,  August  27;  Jonesboro,  Septembei 
Y 


322     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

v  The  announcement  of  this  arrangement  created 
much  interest,  not  only  in  Illinois,  but  through- 
out the  Union.  Lincoln's  party  friends  were 
at  first  alarmed.  They  knew  of  Douglas's  mar- 
vellous power  as  an  orator,  his  wonderful 
hold  on  the  masses,  and  his  unbroken  suc- 
cesses from  his  youth  up.  But  Lincoln  had 
a  clear  advantage  over  his  antagonist  in  sev- 
eral particulars.  He  represented  a  new  and 
enthusiastic  political  party.  He  stood  for  free- 
dom as  against  human  bondage.  He  repre- 
sented a  new  and  more  enlightened  civilization, 
that  was  taking  hold  of  the  popular  heart 
with  irresistible  power,  while  Douglas  was 
obliged  to  defend  the  worn-out  theories  and 
ideals  of  a  by-gone  age./  And,  further,  Lin- 
coln's hands  were  unbound ;  he  had  nothing 
to  lose.  Douglas,  on  the  other  hand,  was  an 
aspirant  to  the  presidency ;  and,  while  his 
speeches  were  addressed  to  the  people  of  Illi- 
nois, he  dared  not  forget  that  the  whole  South 
was  hearing  every  word  and  watching  every 
movement.     The  opposition  which  Lincoln  had 

15;  Charleston,  September  18;  Galesburg,  October  7;  Quincy, 
October  13;  Alton,  October  15.  —  Lincoln-Douglas  Debates, 
p.  66. 


THE   LINCOLN-DOUGLAS   DEBATES  32 J 

encountered  from  the  leaders  of  his  own  party 
in  the  East  was  more  than  balanced  by  the 
hostility  of  the  Buchanan  administration  to 
Douglas.  The  two  champions  were,  as  before 
stated,  personal  friends.  Lincoln  had  paid 
high  tribute  to  the  ability  and  success  of  his 
opponent;  Douglas,  in  his  opening  speech  of 
the  campaign  at  Chicago,  had  referred  to  Lin- 
coln as  a  "kind,  genial,  and  honorable  gen- 
tleman." He  afterward  paid  tribute  to  Lincoln's 
ability  by  stating  that  in  all  his  discussions  at 
Washington  he  had  never  met  an  opponent 
who  had  given  him  so  much  trouble  as  Lincoln. 
"  I  have  been  in  Congress  sixteen  years,"  said 
Douglas,  "  and  there  is  not  a  man  in  the 
Senate  I  would  not  rather  encounter  in  de- 
bate."1 

It  was  agreed  that  the  first  speaker  occupy 
an  hour,  the  second  an  hour  and  a  half,  after 
which  the  first  would  close  with  half  an  hour,, 
thus  covering  three  hours  in  all.  At  their  first 
meeting,  in  Ottawa,  Douglas  had  the  opening 
and  closing.  Lincoln  had  them  at  Freeport, 
and  so  on  alternately  to  the  close.     The  excite 

1  Lincoln-Douglas  Debates,  p.  340. 


324     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

ment  of  the  people  rose  to  fever  heat.  The 
meetings  were  held  in  the  open  air,  as  no  hall 
was  large  enough  to  hold  the  crowds  that 
gathered. 

Extracts 

We  shall  not  attempt  to  give  even  an  out- 
line of  the  speeches  in  this  great  contest.  A 
few  extracts  will  show  the  general  trend  of 
the  argument.  There  was  but  one  important 
subject  treated  by  the  contestants,  and  that 
was  the  slavery  question,  or  rather  the  par- 
ticular phase  of  it  arising  from  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill  and  the  Dred  Scott  Decision  — 
the  advance  of  slavery  into  the  Territories. 
Douglas  rang  many  changes  on  Lincoln's 
Springfield  utterance  that  "  A  house  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand,"  and  its  applica- 
tion to  slavery  in  the  United  States.  This 
doctrine,  he  claimed,  instead  of  allaying  the 
strife  between  the  North  and  the  South,  would 
foster  and  encourage  it  until  a  war  of  sections 
would  result. 

Lincoln  disclaimed  all  intention  of  inviting 
a  war  of  sections ;  but  reiterated  his  belief  that 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES  325 

one  side  or  the  other  would  eventually  become 
supreme  throughout  the  country.  "Is  slavery 
wrong  ? "  said  Lincoln,  "  that  is  the  real  issue. 
That  is  the  issue  that  shall  continue  in  this 
country  when  these  poor  tongues  of  Judge 
Douglas  and  myself  shall  be  silent.  It  is  the 
eternal  struggle  between  two  principles  —  right 
and  wrong  —  throughout  the  world.  .  .  .  The 
one  is  the  common  right  of  humanity  and  the 
other  the  divine  right  of  kings.  It  is  the 
same  principle  in  whatever  shape  it  develops 
itself.  It  is  the  same  spirit  that  says :  '  You 
work  and  toil,  and  earn  bread,  and  I'll  eat  it'  " 
Lincoln  appealed  again  and  again  to  that 
clause  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
"All  men  are  created  equal."  "This,"  he  in- 
sisted, "meant  all  men,  and  not  simply  all 
white  men, — created  equal,"  not  in  mental 
endowments  nor  in  worldly  station,  but  in  their 
natural  rights  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness.  "  I  agree  with  Judge  Douglas," 
said  he,  "  that  the  negro  is  not  my  equal 
in  many  respects  .  but  in  the  right  to  eat 
the  bread,  without  the  leave  of  anybody  else, 
which   his   own   hand  earns,   he  is   my  equal, 


326     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

and  the  equal  of  Judge  Douglas,  and  the 
equal  of  every  living  man."  His  most  elo- 
quent apostrophe  to  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence had  been  uttered  early  in  August 
at  Beardstown.  The  speech  closed  with  the 
following  words : — 

"  You  may  do  anything  with  me  you  choose, 
if  you  will  but  heed  these  sacred  principles. 
You  may  not  only  defeat  me  for  the  Senate, 
but  you  may  take  me  and  put  me  to  death. 
While  pretending  no  indifference  to  earthly 
honors,  I  do  claim  to  be  actuated  in  this  con- 
test by  something  higher  than  an  anxiety  for 
office.  I  charge  you  to  drop  every  paltry  and 
insignificant  thought  for  any  man's  success. 
It  is  nothing;  I  am  nothing;  Judge  Douglas 
is  nothing.  But  do  not  destroy  that  immor- 
tal emblem  of  humanity  —  the  Declaration  of 
American  Independence." 

To  Douglas's  frequent  assertion  that  the 
fathers  who  framed  the  Constitution  were  con- 
tent to  let  slavery  alone,  but  that  Lincoln  only 
increased  the  agitation  by  taking  the  stand 
he  did,  the  latter  replied,  "  There  is  no  way  of 
putting  an  end  to  the  slavery  agitation  amongst 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS   DEBATES  327 

us  but  to  put  it  back  upon  the  basis  where  our 
fathers  placed  it,  —  no  way  but  to  keep  it  out 
of  our  Territories  —  to  restrict  it  forever  to  the 
old  States  where  it  now  exists.  Then  the 
public  mind  will  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is 
in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction." 

Douglas  lauded  "  Popular  Sovereignty "  as 
embodied  in  his  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill.  Lin- 
coln quaintly  answered  that  the  logical  mean- 
ing of  that  was  that  "  if  one  man  chooses  to 
enslave  another,  no  third  man  has  a  right  to 
object."  The  substance  of  Lincoln's  argument 
from  first  to  last  was  that  slavery  is  wrong, 
and  its  spread  should  be  arrested.  He  was 
not  an  abolitionist,  nor  did  he  wish  to  inter- 
fere with  the  institution  in  any  State  where  it 
existed ;  but  he  held  that,  since  slavery  was 
an  evil  in  itself,  and  was  constantly  menacing 
the  peace  of  the  country,  it  should  be  prohib- 
ited by  Congress  from  all  the  Territories,  and 
thus  put  in  the  way  of  ultimate  extinction. 
Douglas,  on  the  other  hand,  professed  to  be  en- 
tirely indifferent  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  He 
did  not  care  if  it  was  voted  up  or  voted  down. 
If  the  Territories  desired  to  have  slavery,  they 


328     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

had  a  right  to  it,  and  Congress  had  no  right 
to  interfere.  This  doctrine  became  popularly 
known  as  "  Squatter  Sovereignty." 

The  Freeport  Doctrine 

Senator  Douglas  was  a  man  of  wonderful 
resources.  His  capacity  to  rise  above  political 
adversity  was  extraordinary.  Many  believed 
that  his  fathering  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill 
would  end  his  political  life;  but  with  remark- 
able exuberance  he  rose  above  popular  clamor, 
and  in  a  few  years  he  had  again  become  the 
favorite  idol.  But  it  remained  for  this  notable 
debate  with  Lincoln  to  deal  the  Little  Giant 
a  blow  from  which  he  could  not  recover. 

At  the  first  joint  meeting,  at  Ottawa,  Doug- 
las propounded  to  Lincoln  several  important 
questions  bearing  on  the  subject  under  dis- 
cussion. This  was  a  fatal  mistake  on  the  part 
of  Douglas,  as  he  soon  discovered.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln evaded  giving  direct  answers  at  the  time, 
saying,  however,  that  he  would  do  so  on 
condition  that  Douglas  would  answer  an 
equal  number  of  interrogatories  propounded 
by  him. 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES  329 

Six  days  later  they  met  for  their  second 
discussion,  at  Freeport.  Lincoln,  on  rising  to 
speak,  answered  his  opponent's  questions  seri- 
atim. He  then  read  a  series  of  questions  that 
he  had  framed,  and  called  upon  Douglas  to 
make  answer  before  the  audience  as  he  had 
done.  The  second  of  these,  as  follows,  was 
the  fatal  one :  "  Can  the  people  of  a  United 
States  Territory,  in  any  lawful  way,  against 
the  wish  of  any  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
exclude  slavery  from  its  limits,  prior  to  the 
formation  of  a  State  constitution  ? " 

It  is  necessary  to  explain  here  that  the 
clause  in  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  which 
dealt  with  this  point  was  equivocal,  and  it 
received  a  very  different  interpretation  north 
and  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line.L  )jn 
the  South  it  was  interpreted  to  mean  that,  as 
the  Constitution  recognized  the  right  of  prop- 
erty in  slaves,  the  Government  was  bound  to 
protect  it,  as  any  other  property,  in  all  public 
lands,  including  the  Territories.  The  Territory, 
therefore,  had  no  voice  in  the  matter  until  it 
became  a  State.  It  was  like  a  child  not  yet 
of   age,    the    National   Government   being   the 


330     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

parent,  and  having  full  control  until  the  former* 
reached  its  majority,  that  is,  statehood. 

In  the  North  the  clause  was  held  to  mean 
that  a  Territory  had  the  power,  at  any  time, 
to  exclude  slavery  from  its  bounds  by  a  vote 
of  the  people.  The  Dred  Scott  Decision 
clearly  favored  the  southern  view.  With  this 
explanation  the  depth  of  Lincoln's  question 
will  readily  be  seen. 

Douglas  was  thus  placed  in  the  most  trying 
position  of  his  life.  An  avowed  candidate  for 
the  presidency,  it  was  absolutely  necessary 
for  him  to  retain  or  win  the  favor  of  both  the 
great  sections  of  the  country ;  but  now  he  is 
forced  to  stand  before  a  public  audience  (and 
that  audience  included  the  whole  United  States) 
and  give  his  views  on  the  one  great  question 
on  which  the  North  and  the  South  were  at 
that  moment  at  variance.  But  there  was  no 
escape.  He  had  begun  the  catechising  process  ; 
and  to  refuse  to  answer  Lincoln's  questions 
now  would  have  been  cowardly,  and  would 
have  arrayed  public  feeling  against  him.  It 
was  generally  supposed  that  he  would  answer 
the    question     in     accordance    with     northern 


THE   LINCOLN-DOUGLAS   DEBATES  33 1 

sentiment  The  Republican  leaders,  who  knew 
of  Lincoln's  intention  to  put  this  question  to 
his  opponent,  greatly  feared  that  Douglas 
would  answer  according  to  northern  feeling, 
and  thus  win  the  senatorship.  A  number  of 
them,  it  is  said,  sought  Lincoln  at  his  hotel 
late  on  the  night  before  the  Freeport  meeting, 
invaded  his  sleeping-room,  and  urged  him  not 
to  put  the  interrogatory  to  Douglas.  But  Lin- 
coln persisted,  and  they  cried  out,  "  If  you  do, 
you  can  never  be  senator."  "  Gentlemen," 
replied  Lincoln,  "I  am  after  larger  game ;  if 
Douglas  answers  as  you  say  he  will  he  can 
never  be  President,  and  the  battle  of  i860  is 
worth  a  hundred  of  this." 

The  day  came,  and  Douglas,  after  Lincoln's 
opening  speech,  rose  to  make  reply.  His 
answer  to  the  all-important  question  was,  as 
was  generally  expected,  in  accordance  with 
the  northern  view.  He  explained  that  the 
people  of  a  Territory  could  introduce  or  ex- 
clude slavery,  as  they  pleased,  for  the  reason 
that  the  institution  could  not  exist  anywhere 
for  a  day  unless  supported  by  local  police 
regulations  —  that   if   the   people   are   opposed 


332     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

to  the  institution  they  could  prevent  its  intro- 
duction by  unfriendly  legislation.  The  theory 
thus  put  forth  was  not  only  at  variance  with 
the  doctrine  held  throughout  the  South,  but 
it  openly  contradicted  the  Dred  Scott  Deci- 
sion, which  permitted  the  slaveholder  to  carry 
his  human  property  into  the  Territories  with- 
out hindrance. 

This  opinion  of  Douglas  soon  became  known 
as  the  "  Freeport  Doctrine."  It  was  taken  up 
and  discussed  by  all  the  leading  newspapers 
in  the  United  States.  Many  of  them  scored 
the  author  without  mercy.  But  the  most 
scathing  criticism  he  received  was  from  Lin- 
coln, who  in  his  subsequent  speeches  showed 
with  pitiless  logic  how  inconsistent  was  this 
opinion  with  the  Dred  Scott  Decision,  which 
Douglas  professed  to  accept  as  sound  Demo- 
cratic doctrine. 

The  Result 

The  immediate  result  of  the  Lincoln-Doug- 
las debates  was  a  victory  for  Douglas.  He 
was  reelected  to  the  Senate  by  a  narrow  ma- 
jority, though  the  Republicans  had  a  majority 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS   DEBATES  333 

of  the  popular  vote.  This  apparent  contra- 
diction arose  from  the  unfair  apportionment 
of  the  legislative  districts,  and  from  the  fact 
that  of  the  twelve  hold-over  senators  eight 
were  Democrats. 

But  the  immediate  result  of  the  senatorial 
election  was  of  little  importance  compared 
with  the  vaster  results  that  soon  followed.  In 
fact  this  great  debate  proved  to  be  the  turn- 
ing-point in  the  political  life  of  both  the  con- 
testants. From  this  time  forth  their  fortunes 
moved  rapidly,  but,  like  Pharaoh's  chief  butler 
and  chief  baker,  in  opposite  directions.  The 
return  of  Douglas  to  the  Senate  seemed  to 
give  him  the  victor's  palm,  but,  in  the  light 
of  subsequent  events,  the  world  must  render 
a  different  verdict.  This  was  the  last  victory 
of  Douglas.  His  Freeport  Doctrine  was 
deeply  offensive  to  the  whole  South  and  to 
some  of  the  leading  men  of  his  party  at  the 
North.  His  Lecompton  revolt  was  a  venial 
offence  compared  with  this.1  He  found  him- 
self wholly  out  of  fellowship  with  a  large 
portion  of  his  party,  and  all  hope  of  a  recon- 

1  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Vol.  II.  p.  163. 


334     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN    HISTORY 

ciliation  was  at  an  end.  Two  years  laterv 
when  the  party  met  in  national  convention 
to  nominate  a  candidate  for  the  presidency, 
the  naming  of  Douglas  by  the  northern  dele- 
gates caused  a  revolt  from  those  of  the  South, 
who,  naming  their  own  candidate,  thus  ren- 
dered the  party  an  easy  prey  to  its  great  and 
newly  formed  antagonist. 

The  most  important  single  result  of  this 
joint  debate  was  what  it  did  for  Abraham 
Lincoln.  The  discussion  at  first  attracted 
National  attention  only  because  of  Douglas's 
connection  with  it  —  Douglas,  the  man  with- 
out a  peer  in  the  United  States  Senate,  the 
restless,  ambitious  soul  who  had  stirred  up 
such  strife  four  years  before  in  the  National 
capital.  But  ere  long  the  people  saw  that  a 
greater  than  Douglas  was  upon  the  scene ; 
they  beheld  in  the  political  firmament  a  still 
brighter  star  rising  from  the  prairied  West ! 
Lincoln's  reputation  from  this  time  was  Na- 
tional. His  speeches,  read  from  one  end  of 
the  land  to  the  other,  were  found  to  be  the 
fullest,  clearest,  and  most  logical  statement  of 
Republican    doctrine    to   be    found   anywhere 


THE   LINCOLN-DOUGLAS   DEBATES  335 

He  was  henceforth  acknowledged  to  be  the 
foremost  man  in  his  party,  with  the  possible 
exception  of  Seward  of  New  York;  and  two 
years  later,  at  the  National  convention,  when 
it  was  found  that  the  great  New  Yorker  could 
not  be  nominated,  Lincoln  became  the  logical 
candidate  for  the  presidency.  With  his  suc- 
cess at  the  polls,  his  subsequent  success  dur- 
ing the  greatest  crisis  through  which  our 
country  has  passed,  and  with  his  greatness 
as  President  of  the  United  States,  every  reader 
is  familiar. 

It  remains  to  say  a  word  about  his  defeated 
opponent.  Douglas  bore  his  defeat  in  i860 
most  manfully ;  and  the  contribution  he  made 
toward  preserving  the  Union  in  the  great  con- 
flict that  followed  was  neither  trifling  nor 
small.  If  there  was  one  man  in  the  country, 
in  1 86 1,  who  could  have  compassed  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Government,  that  man  was  Stephen 
A.  Douglas.  The  Republican  party  alone 
could  not  have  won  in  the  gigantic  struggle, 
nor  prevented  the  final  dissolution  of  the 
Union.  Nearly  a  million  northern  Demo- 
crats    looked    to    Douglas    as    their     political 


y 


336     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

oracle.  His  creed  was  their  creed,  his  loyalty, 
their  loyalty.  Douglas,  knowing  this,  did  not 
hesitate  to  cast  his  lot  on  the  side  of  the 
Union.  He  called  on  President  Lincoln  soon 
after  the  inauguration,  and  proffered  his  ser- 
vices in  any  way  in  which  he  might  be  use- 
ful. The  report  of  this  interview,  published 
throughout  the  North,  had  a  powerful  effect 
in  determining  the  attitude  of  Douglas's 
followers.  Lincoln  was  greatly  pleased  with 
Douglas's  action,  and  it  is  believed  would  have 
appointed  him  to  some  high  position  of  honor, 
had  his  life  been  spared ;  but  in  June  of  the 
same  year  Douglas  was  called  on  to  pay  the 
final  debt  of  Nature,  and  he  was  gathered 
unto  his  fathers. 


CHAPTER   XVII 
History  of  Political  Parties 

A  complete  history  of  the  political  parties 
that  have  existed  and  still  exist  in  the  United 
States  would  be  a  history  of  the  entire  work- 
ing of  our  Government  from  the  beginning. 
No  such  pretensions  are  made  for  this  brief 
chapter.  We  can  only  notice  the  general 
tendencies  of  each  party  and  the  main  points 
of  difference  between  them,  citing  an  occa- 
sional historical  fact  as  an  illustration.  The 
many  minor  political  organizations  which  did 
not  get  control  of  the  Government  must  be 
omitted.  The  period  covered  will  be  the  same 
as  that  from  which  the  other  chapters  of  this 
volume  have  been  drawn,  closing  with  the 
beginning  of  the  Civil  War. 

In  a  government  such  as  ours  it  is  neces- 
sary that  the  citizens  be  divided  into  two  or 
more  political  parties,  as  no  party,  however 
z  337 


338     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

pure  its  motives  at  first,  will  rule  the  country 
long  without  becoming  corrupt,  unless  it  has 
a  rival  of  almost  equal  strength,  scrutinizing 
its  acts  and  motives,  and  ready  to  snatch  from 
it  the  reins  of  Government. 

In  our  more  than  a  century  of  National 
life  there  have  been  four  political  parties  that 
reached  such  magnitude  and  power  as  to  get 
control  of  the  Government,  namely,  the  Federal, 
the  Democratic,  the  Whig,  and  the  Republican 
parties.  Of  these,  two  have  run  their  course 
and  passed  into  history,  while  the  other  two  still 
exist  and  constitute  the  great  political  forces 
of  the  Nation,  measuring  their  strength  from 
time  to  time  with  ever  varying  success.  Of 
these  four  great  organizations  three  have 
stood  in  a  great  measure  for  the  same  thing, 
no  two  existing  at  the  same  time,  one  follow- 
ing another  as  its  natural  heir  and  successor. 
The  fourth,  on  the  other  hand,  has  been  the 
natural  and  only  formidable  opponent  of  the 
other  three,  has  been  contemporary  with  them 
all,  and  has  existed  more  than  twice  as  long 
as  the  next  oldest.  All  of  these  parties  have 
stood  for  some  great   and   noble    principles  in 


HISTORY   OF   POLITICAL   PARTIES  339 

human  government,  a  fact  that  many  zealous 
partisans  overlook.  It  is  true  that  it  is  our 
right,  and  not  only  our  right,  but  our  duty, 
to  criticise  and  oppose  corruptions  in  politics. 
The  American  public  should  ever  be  awake 
to  the  doings  of  its  lawmakers,  and  that 
there  is  much  to  find  fault  with  none  will 
deny ;  but  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  in 
criticising  the  corruptions  in  politics,  we  are 
apt  to  overlook  the  abiding  principles  of  right 
which  underlie  our  political  life. 

The  Earliest  Political  Parties 

During  the  colonial  period  there  were  no 
political  parties  in  America.  There  was  some 
difference,  it  is  true,  in  political  opinion,  a 
portion  of  the  people  adhering  to  the  preroga- 
tive of  the  King  without  questioning,  while 
others,  with  less  reverence  for  their  sovereign, 
were  ever  vigilant  in  guarding  their  own 
liberties.  During  the  Revolutionary  period 
there  were  no  organized  political  parties,  but 
the  people  were  divided  into  two  unorganized 
masses  known  as  Whigs  and  Tories,  the  former 
comprising  the  fighting  patriots,  and  the  latter 


340     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

the  loyalists,  who  opposed  the  war.  These 
names,  both  borrowed  from  English  politics, 
were  first  used  in  America  about  1770. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  many  of  the  loyalists 
fled,  some  to  England,  others  to  Canada,  while 
still  others  remained  in  the  country  and  be- 
came reconciled  to  the  new  form  of  govern- 
ment. The  party  names  were  dropped,  and 
for  several  years  there  was  no  special  political 
distinction  among  the  people. 

When  the  Constitution  was  framed  and  put 
before  the  people  for  their  approval,  a  large 
portion  of  them  opposed  its  adoption.  A  ma- 
jority, however,  favored  it,  and  eventually 
secured  its  ratification  in  all  the  States. * 
Those  who  favored  the  Federal  Government 
as  created  by  the  new  Constitution  styled 
themselves  Federalists ;  those  opposing  were 
called  Anti-Federalists.  But  the  Anti-Federal- 
ists were  never  an  organized  party,  nor  did  they 
acknowledge  the  name,  which  had  been  put 
upon  them  by  their  enemies.  After  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution  this  party,  if  such 
it    can    be    called,    fell    to    pieces,  while    the 

1  See  Chapter  II. 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES  34 1 

Federal    party   took    control    of    the    Govern- 
ment. 

The  Federal  Party 

The  political  party  that  came  into  control 
of  the  Government  in  1789  remained  in  power 
for  twelve  years.  It  differed  from  all  its  suc- 
cessors in  being  more  centralizing  and  less  in 
sympathy  with  the  masses  of  the  people  than 
any  other.  Its  leaders  believed  that  the  wealthy 
and  cultured  classes  should  rule  the  country, 
and  they  had  little  faith  in  the  ability  of  the 
masses  to  govern  themselves.  The  tendency 
of  the  party  was  to  centralize  the  power  into 
the  hands  of  a  few,  and  to  make  the  National 
Government  strong  at  the  expense  of  the 
States.1 

But  the  people  were  jealous  of  their  liberties ; 
they  had  learned  to  love  their  respective  States 
while  still  colonies;  but  the  National  Govern- 
ment was  a  new  thing,  and  there  was  a  general 
fear  that  it  would  become  tyrannical,  as  Eng- 
land had  been  in  the  past.  It  was  not  long 
after  the  first  administration  had  begun  when  a 

*  See  Chapter  IV. 


342      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

large  portion  of  the  people  began  to  show  signs 
of  discontent  with  the  monarchial  tendency  of 
the  Government,  as  they  called  it,  and  the  re- 
sult was,  an  opposing  political  party  came  into 
being.  The  leader  of  this  movement  was 
Thomas  Jefferson,  President  Washington's  sec- 
retary of  state.  This  new  movement  first 
assumed  the  dignity  of  a  political  party  about 
1 793  5  it  steadily  increased  in  popular  favor 
until  the  end  of  the  century,  when  it  gained 
control  of  the  Government. 

The  great  leader  of  the  Federal  Party  was 
Alexander  Hamilton,  and  as  he  and  Jefferson 
were  both  in  the  cabinet  of  Washington,  their 
constant  wrangles  made  it  very  unpleasant  for 
the  latter.  Washington  was  supposed  to  be 
above  party  lines,  but  it  was  known  that  his 
sympathies  were  with  Hamilton  rather  than 
with  Jefferson.  The  Jefferson  party,  however, 
supported  Washington  for  a  second  term,  and 
his  second  election  was  unanimous,  as  the  first 
had  been.  Washington's  commanding  presence 
held  party  spirit  in  check  during  the  eight  years 
of  his  presidency  ;  but  on  his  retirement  the 
two  opposing  parties  took  the  field  for  a  royal 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL   PARTIES  343 

battle  for  supremacy.  The  presidential  contest 
in  1796  was  a  vigorous  one,  and  John  Adams 
won  the  prize  over  Jefferson  by  the  narrow 
margin  of  three  votes  in  the  electoral  college. 
Four  years  later  Jefferson  defeated  Adams  by  a 
majority  of  eight.  Thus  fell  the  first  great 
political  party  in  the  United  States,  and  it  fell 
to  rise  no  more.  After  the  great  defeat  of 
1800,  the  Federal  party  grew  weaker  and 
weaker  until  about  18 16,  when  it  utterly  dis- 
appeared from  American  politics. 

The  Federal  party,  with  all  its  aristocratic 
tendencies,  embodied  much  that  is  noble  and 
of  permanent  value  in  human  government.  It 
did  the  country  a  great  service,  and  was  neces- 
sary at  the  time  to  save  the  new-born  republic 
from  anarchy.  It  had  adopted  the  Constitu- 
tion, had  become  the  first  pilot  of  the  new 
Ship  of  State,  and  had  guided  the  ship  success- 
fully for  twelve  years.  To  President  Washing- 
ton we  owe  our  attitude  of  non-interference  in 
European  affairs,  and  the  courage  required  to 
take  that  stand  was  equal  to  that  of  the  pa- 
triots at  Bunker  Hill.  The  financial  basis  of 
our  Government  to-day  may  be  traced  back  unti' 


344     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

its  roots  are  found  in  the  brain  of  the  great 
Federal  leader,  Alexander  Hamilton.  These 
are  the  abiding  monuments  of  the  Federal 
party. 

But  with  all  its  excellences,  the  party  was 
never  popular.  Only  once  after  the  rise  of 
the  Jefferson  party  did  the  Federalists  com- 
mand a  majority  in  both  Houses  of  Congress, 
and  that  was  occasioned  by  the  stimulus  of 
impending  war  with  France  under  John 
Adams.  It  then  committed  the  unpardonable 
sin  in  passing  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws, 
and  the  sovereign  people  sat  in  judgment  and 
passed  upon  it  the  sentence  of  death.  But  it 
was  not  the  unpopular  laws  that  caused  its 
overthrow ;  these  were  but  the  occasion.  The 
true  cause  lay  deeper.  The  vital  defect  in 
the  party  was  its  distrust  of  popular  govern- 
ment—  its  want  of  confidence  in  the  people. 
As  Henry  Adams  says,  "The  party  repre- 
sented the  ideals  of  a  bygone  age."  But  a 
new  century  had  dawned,  and  brought  with 
it  new  ideals  with  which  the  old  party  was 
unable  to  grapple,  and  its  fall  was  inevitable. 

But  truth  cannot  die.     The  truth,  therefore, 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES  345 

embodied  in  old  Federal  doctrine  did  not  die. 
Not  only  did  the  rival  party  that  defeated  the 
Federalists  gradually  adopt  their  best  princi- 
ples, but  every  political  party  in  America, 
from  that  time  to  the  present,  has  done  the 
same  thing.  The  old  Federal  party,  there- 
fore, still  lives  in  its  successors  —  just  as  a 
corn  of  wheat  that  falls  into  the  ground  and 
dies  lives  again  in  the  new  plant  that  comes 
forth  —  and  it  deserves  and  will  deserve  the 
grateful  remembrance  of  American  citizens  to 
the  latest  generations. 

The  Democratic  Party 

Thomas  Jefferson,  in  founding  a  new  politi- 
cal party,  gave  it  the  name  of  Republican,  or 
National  Republican,  and  he  continued  to 
designate  the  party  by  these  names  as  long 
as  he  lived.  But  his  enemies  often  called  his 
followers  Democrats  in  derision,  after  a  little 
party  in  France,  held  in  disrepute  at  the  time. 
The  name  Democratic  steadily  gained  in  favor 
until,  in  1828,  it  was  finally  adopted  as  the 
official  party  name.  We  shall  employ  the 
term    Democratic    to   designate    the    party   of 


346      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Jefferson,  though  it  was  not  officially  so  used 
during  the  lifetime  of  its  founder. 

The  difference  between  the  Federal  and 
Democratic  parties  lay  chiefly  in  the  fact  that 
the  former  was  unfriendly  to  popular  govern- 
ment and  believed  in  a  loose  construction  of 
the  Constitution ;  while  the  latter  advocated 
the  largest  possible  share  in  the  Government 
by  the  common  people,  and  believed  in  a  strict 
construction  of  the  Constitution.  By  loose 
construction  is  meant  the  tendency  to  construe 
the  Constitution,  not  always  literally,  but  liber 
ally,  and  thus  give  larger  powers  to  Congress. 
The  strict  constructionists,  on  the  other  hand, 
would  allow  the  National  Government  only 
such  powers  as  are  expressly  granted  by  the 
Constitution,  reserving  all  others  to  the  States 
or  to  the  people.  But  the  Democratic  party, 
after  coming  into  full  control,  found  it  impos- 
sible to  carry  out  literally  its  ideas  of  strict 
construction.  When  the  opportunity  to  pur- 
chase Louisiana  offered,  Jefferson  entered  into 
the  contract,  though  the  Constitution  gave  no 
such  warrant.  The  party  was  forced,  owing 
to   the    strained  ^relations    with     France    and 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL   PARTIES  347 

England,  to  adopt  from  time  to  time  the  very 
measures  against  which  it  had  fought  in  old 
Federal  days.  This  did  not  necessarily  indi- 
cate a  change  of  policy,  but  only  a  rising  to 
an  emergency,  an  adjusting  of  its  sails  with 
the  veering  of  the  wind.  The  Federal  party, 
lacking  this  ability  to  adjust  itself  to  new 
conditions,  had  found  itself  out  of  tune  with 
the  times,  and  its  downfall  was  the  necessary 
result. 

When  the  Federal  party  ceased  to  be  a  fac- 
tor in  National  politics,  the  Democrats  had 
their  own  way  for  a  long  period.  At  Jeffer- 
son's second  election  there  were  but  fourteen 
electoral  votes  cast  against  him.  The  opposi- 
tion to  Madison  was  somewhat  greater,  and 
in  1 8 16  there  still  remained  a  weak  resistance 
to  Monroe's  election ;  but  at  the  close  of 
Monroe's  first  term  all  opposition  had  died 
out,  and  his  second  election  was  practically 
unanimous.1 

In  1824  there  were  no  opposing  political 
organizations ;  but  the  Democratic  party  was 
divided    into    factions,    each    with    its    chosen 

1See  Chapter  IX. 


348      SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

leader.  Four  candidates  for  the  presidency 
were  early  in  the  field  —  John  Quincy  Adams, 
Henry  Clay,  John  C.  Calhoun,  and  William  H. 
Crawford.  All  of  these  belonged  to  the 
Democratic  party,  and  each  had  a  following 
that  claimed  to  represent  the  true  democracy. 
Later  in  the  campaign  another  star  was  added 
to  the  constellation  in  the  person  of  Andrew 
Jackson ;  but  Calhoun  soon  dropped  out,  and 
the  number  was  again  four. 

When  the  electoral  college  met  Calhoun 
was  elected  Vice-President,  but  there  was  no 
election  of  President,  Jackson  receiving  the 
highest  number  of  votes,  ninety-nine,  Adams 
coming  next  with  eighty-four,  while  Crawford 
received  forty-one,  and  Clay  thirty-seven.  The 
election  was  thus  thrown  into  the  House,  where 
Adams  was  elected  on  the  first  ballot.  In  1828 
Jackson  and  Adams  were  the  candidates,  the 
former  using  the  name  Democratic,  while  the 
Adams  following  retained  the  old  Jeffersonian 
name,  National  Republican. 

Four  years  later,  when  Clay  ran  against 
Jackson,  the  same  party  names  were  used.  But 
Clay,  whose  party  policy  was  altogether  unlike 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES  349 

that  of  Jackson,  and  having  a  large  following, 
both  in  Congress  and  among  the  masses,  now 
determined  to  break  away  from  the  old  party 
and  to  organize  a  new  one.  Hence  the  Whig 
party  was  born,  the  name  being  first  used  in 
1834.  For  twenty  years  from  this  date  the 
Democratic  party  had  a  great  rival,  strong 
enough  at  times  to  take  from  it  the  control  of 
the  Government. 

When  the  Whig  party  disappeared  in  the 
early  fifties,  the  Democrats  again  had  a  monop- 
oly of  National  affairs.  Their  powerful  hold 
on  the  country  seemed  to  promise  another  long 
lease  of  power ;  but  the  passage  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill  and  the  series  of  disasters  that 
followed  in  its  train  brought  about  a  political 
revolution,  and  deprived  the  party  of  National 
control  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  The  wonder 
is  that  it  ever  recovered.  That  the  Democratic 
party  survived  its  decade  of  experience  begin- 
ning with  1854  is  one  of  the  marvels  of  the 
century.  The  slaveholders  were  dominant  in 
the  party's  councils  at  the  time  when  the  spirit 
of  the  age  pointed  so  plainly  to  a  new  order  of 
things.     This  spirit  they  resisted  to  the  last  — 


350     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

until  utterly  defeated  by  force  of  arms.  It  is 
not  true  that  the  Democratic  party  as  such 
waged  war  on  the  Union  in  defence  of  slavery ; 
but  it  is  true  that  the  slaveholders  had  practical 
control  of  the  party  for  some  years  before  the 
war.  But  the  war  over  and  slavery  overthrown, 
the  party,  with  that  wonderful  capacity  to 
adapt  itself  to  new  conditions,  as  shown  sixty 
years  before,  accepted  the  results  of  the  war, 
and  was  soon  a  formidable  rival  of  the  dominant 
Republican  party. 

The  work  of  the  Democratic  party  in  making 
our  great  country  what  it  is  can  scarcely  be 
estimated.  To  it  we  are  indebted  for  the  acqui- 
sition of  every  State  and  Territory  beyond  the 
Mississippi  River,  and  for  Florida  —  more  than 
half  of  our  National  domain.  To  it  we  owe  the 
Independent  Treasury,  and  the  destruction  of 
the  United  States  Bank,  which,  had  it  remained 
to  this  day,  would  doubtless  have  eaten  the 
very  vitals  of  our  political  system. 

Many  are  the  blunders  this  party  has  made 
and  numerous  its  errors ;  but  to  assert  that  the 
party  does  not  rest  on  true  and  sound  princi- 
ples  of    government   is   to    impute    to   a   vast 


HISTORY  OF   POLITICAL   PARTIES  35 1 

number  of  American  citizens  during  a  century 
of  our  history  either  unpardonable  insincerity 
or  gross  stupidity. 

The   Whig  Party 

When  Henry  Clay  and  his  friends  were 
casting  about  for  a  party  name,  the  old  Revo- 
lutionary name  "Whig"  was  suggested  and 
adopted.  The  Whig  party  may  be  called  the 
posthumous  child  of  the  old  Federal  party, 
and  it  stood  for  the  same  principles  in  a 
somewhat  modified  degree.  During  the  entire 
twenty  years  of  the  life  of  the  Whig  party  it 
had  but  one  rival,  and  that  was  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  and  it  differed  from  the  latter 
in  being  more  paternal  and  centralizing  in  its 
tendencies. 

The  Whig  party  differed  from  the  other 
three  in  that  it  has  not  left  us  one  great 
legislative  act  to  enrich  our  National  life,  nor 
to  embalm  its  name  in  American  history. 
The  party  was  patriotic,  but  unfortunate;  it 
was  rent  by  foes  without  and  greater  foes 
within.  It  twice  elected  a  President,  but  each 
died  in  office  before  his  term  was  half  finished 


352     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

During  the  whole  period  of  the  existence 
of  the  Whig  party  it  was  beaten  by  the  Demo- 
crats in  all  its  great  measures.1  The  first  great 
contest  between  the  Whigs  and  Democrats  was 
that  concerning  the  United  States  Bank.  The 
Whigs  favored  granting  it  a  new  charter  and 
perpetuating  its  existence  indefinitely,  while  the 
Democrats  opposed  this  on  the  ground  that  so 
great  a  monopoly,  which  had  practical  control 
of  the  finances  of  the  entire  Nation,  would 
surely  become  corrupt,  would  control  the  elec- 
tions, and  subvert  the  liberties  of  the  people. 
The  Democratic  party  appealed  to  the  people 
on  this  ground,  were  successful,  and  the  bank 
was  destroyed. 

The  Whigs  favored  expending  the  surplus 
in  the  treasury  from  time  to  time  in  internal 
improvements,  such  as  canals,  turnpikes,  and 
National  roads.  The  Democrats  claimed  that 
such  improvements  could  benefit  only  those 
who  lived  near  them,  that  each  State  should 
make  its  own  improvements,  and  that  to  tax  the 
whole  people  for  the  benefit  of  the  few  was 
repugnant  to  the  spirit  of  democracy.     In  this 

1  Schouler,  Vol.  IV.  p.  261. 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL   PARTIES  353 

also  the  Whigs  were  defeated.  So  also  with  the 
Independent  Treasury.  The  Whigs  opposed  it 
with  all  their  power;  but  it  became  a  law,  and 
the  people  came  to  see  that  it  was  a  good  thing. 
The  Whig  party  was  therefore  correspondingly 
weakened  for  having  opposed  it.  Thus  it  will 
be  seen  the  chief  differences  between  these 
two  parties  were  similar  to  those  that  had 
existed  between  the  Federal  and  the  Demo- 
cratic parties  forty  years  before. 

The  Whig  party  inflicted  a  suicidal  blow 
upon  itself  in  passing  the  Omnibus  Bill  of 
1850.  The  party  might  have  survived  this, 
as  the  Democratic  party  afterward  survived 
still  heavier  blows,  but  for  the  fact  that  it 
had  been  greatly  weakened  by  the  loss  of  all 
its  important  and  distinctive  measures  since  its 
organization.  Every  defeat  now  became  an 
open  wound,  through  which  the  life-blood  of 
the  party  was  ebbing.  Two  years  later  the 
party  received  its  final  blow  in  the  crushing 
defeat  of  General  Scott  for  the  presidency, 
and  for  the  second  and  last  time  thus  far  in 
American  history  a  great  political  party  passed 
out  of  existence. 

2A 


354     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN    HISTORY 

The  Republican  Party 

Even  in  quiet  times  it  is  not  possible  for  a 
country  governed  by  the  people  to  be  long 
without  opposing  political  parties.  Much  less 
possible  would  this  be  in  such  troublous  times 
as  those  just  preceding  the  Civil  War.  The 
monopoly  in  National  affairs  enjoyed  by  the 
Democratic  party  could  not  long  continue,  espe- 
cially after  it  had  offended  a  large  portion  of 
the  people  with  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill. 
Scarcely  had  the  pending  bill  become  known 
to  the  public  when  the  unrest  of  the  people 
began  to  manifest  itself,  and  rumors  were  soon 
afloat  of  the  formation  of  a  new  national  party. 
There  was  much  unorganized  material  with 
which  to  form  a  party. 

The  Democratic  party  had,  at  the  death  of 
the  Federal  party,  absorbed  almost  the  whole 
people,  but  this  was  not  true  at  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Whig  party.  The  old  line  Whigs 
for  the  most  part  refused  to  affiliate  with  the 
Democrats.  The  same  was  true  of  the  Ameri- 
can or  Know-Nothing  party,  which  was  now  on 
the   verge   of   dissolution.     To   these   must  be 


HISTORY  OF   POLITICAL  PARTIES  355 

added  the  many  thousands  of  anti-Nebraska 
Democrats.  These  three  elements  found  them- 
selves on  common  ground  in  opposing  the 
future  encroachment  of  the  slave-power  on 
free  soil;  and  they  were  not  long  in  forming 
a  coalition  to  found  a  great  political  party. 

There  is  a  little  town  in  Wisconsin,  Ripon, 
in  Fond  du  Lac  County,  which  claims  to  be  the 
birthplace  of  the  new  party.  At  a  meeting  of 
the  citizens  held  on  March  20,  1854,  a  series  of 
resolutions  were  passed  declaring  that  a  new 
national  political  party  should  be  organized  and 
that  its  name  should  be  "  Republican."  A  full 
report  of  the  meeting,  written  by  the  chairman, 
was  published  by  Mr.  Greeley  in  the  New  York 
Tribune.  This  little  meeting  is  perhaps  the 
remotest  rivulet  from  which  the  great  stream 
of  Republicanism  took  its  rise.  A  similar 
movement  followed  a  few  days  later  in  Ver- 
mont. A  great  meeting  was  held  in  Michigan 
early  in  July,  and  the  resolutions  here  adopted 
were  similar  to  those  adopted  in  the  Wisconsin 
town.  Ohio  followed  a  week  later  in  a  similar 
demonstration ;  and  the  following  year  Chase 
carried   that    State    for   governor   on    an    anti- 


356     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Nebraska  ticket  by  a  majority  of  seventy-five 
thousand.  Before  the  close  of  1855  nearly  all 
the  northern  States  had  shown,  through  their 
elections,  their  profound  disapproval  of  the 
policy  of  the  Democratic  party. 

It  was  left  for  Pittsburg  to  become  the  offi- 
cial birthplace  of  the  Republican  party.  On 
Washington's  birthday,  1856,  a  meeting  was 
held  in  this  city  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  new 
national  party.  Every  northern  State  was 
represented  except  California.  The  name 
adopted  for  the  new  party  was  "  Republican." 
The  distinctive  principle  on  which  it  was 
founded  was,  No  further  advance  of  slavery  on 
free  soil.  This  Pittsburg  meeting  called  a  Na- 
tional convention  to  be  held  in  Philadelphia  the 
following  June  for  the  purpose  of  naming  can- 
didates for  the  coming  presidential  election. 

The  convention  was  held  in  Philadelphia  as 
appointed,  and  John  C.  Fremont  and  William 
L.  Dayton  were  nominated  for  the  presidency 
and  vice-presidency.  The  Republican  candi- 
dates were  defeated  at  the  polls,  but  they  car- 
ried all  the  northern  States  except  four,  New 
Jersey,     Pennsylvania,     Indiana,    and     Illinois. 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL   PARTIES  357 

This  was  a  wonderful  showing  for  the  new 
party,  and  four  years  later  it  swept  the  entire 
North  and  gained  control  of  the  Government 
through  the  greatest  political  revolution  in  our 
history. 

The  Republican  party  was  not  at  first  an 
abolition  party.  It  became  such  only  after  the 
issue  was  forced  upon  it  through  the  exigencies 
of  war.  Aside  from  the  issues  brought  on  by 
the  war  and  its  causes,  there  was  no  great  dif- 
ference between  the  Republican  and  Demo- 
cratic parties.  The  reduction  of  the  tariff  in 
1857  was  the  joint  action  of  both  parties,  and 
the  tariff  did  not  become  a  prominent  issue 
between  them  until  more  than  twenty  years 
later. 

As  was  the  case  with  the  Whig  party,  the 
Republican  party  is  somewhat  more  centraliz- 
ing and  paternal  in  its  tendencies  than  the 
Democratic  party,  but  these  features  were 
scarcely  noticeable  before  the  war.  If  the  Whig 
party  was  the  child,  the  Republican  party  may 
be  called  the  grandchild,  of  the  old  Federal 
party.  The  difference,  however,  between  the 
original    Democrats    and    the    Federalists   was 


358      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

much  greater  than  between  the  present  Demo- 
crats and  Republicans.  Experience  has  taught 
the  Democrats  to  lay  more  stress  on  nationality, 
and  the  opposition  to  become  more  democratic. 
The  movement  of  each  has  been  toward  the 
other,  resulting  in  a  narrowing  of  the  gap 
between  them. 

Both  parties  at  the  beginning  of  the  century 
were  idealists  and  extremists.  One  of  them 
committed  suicide  by  refusing  to  discern  the 
signs  of  the  times  and  to  modify  its  policy  as 
necessity  demanded ;  the  other,  more  wise  and 
more  practical,  modified  its  ideals  as  the 
changing  conditions  required,  and  it  has  thus 
preserved  its  organization  down  through  the 
century  to  the  present  time.  The  Whig  Party 
showed  the  same  want  of  foresight  and  adap- 
tability that  had  characterized  its  predecessor, 
and  the  result  was  the  same.  But  the  Repub- 
lican party  has  thus  far  shown  itself  capable  of 
grappling  with  all  sorts  of  public  questions,  and 
its  outlook  for  permanent  existence  is  not  less 
promising  than  that  of  its  great  rival. 

The  history  of  the  Republican  party  covers, 
for  the  most  part,  a  period  subsequent  to  that 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES  359 

treated  in  this  volume.  The  party  has  done 
much  that  is  of  permanent  value  in  our  Gov- 
ernment. Many  of  its  acts  will  ever  be  re- 
membered, one  of  which  marks  an  era  in  our 
history,  and  in  the  onward  march  of  civiliza- 
tion, one  that  will  stand  for  all  time  as  a 
monument  of  unfading  glory  to  the  party 
that  achieved  it,  and  that  is  the  final  and 
permanent  overthrow  of  human  slavery  in 
America. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

Relation  of  the  States  to  the  Nation 

In  the  United  States  every  citizen  has  two 
patriotisms,  two  loyalties  —  one  to  the  United 
States  as  a  nation,  the  other  to  the  State  in 
which  he  resides.  He  lives  under  two  govern- 
ments, or  rather  two  complementary  parts  of 
one  great  system,  the  National  and  the  State, 
and  is  subject  to  two  sets  of  laws,  blended, 
however,  into  one  whole.  To  us  it  is  an  easy 
matter  to  adjust  our  twofold  patriotism  be- 
tween the  Nation  and  the  State,  because  a 
century  of  experience  has  settled  the  question 
for  us.  We  need  only  to  fall  in  with  the  prev- 
alent feeling  of  the  masses,  to  join  the  great 
current  of  American  thought,  and  there  is  lit- 
tle of  personal  effort  left  for  us. 

But  a  hundred  years  ago  it  was  very  differ- 
ent. Then  it  was  that  there  were  constant 
quarrels  in  Congress  on  the  relation  of  the 
States  to  the  Union,  that  any  State  would 
360 


RELATION  OF  STATES  TO  NATION  36 1 

threaten  to  secade  for  some  real  or  imagined 
wrong,  that  the  wisest  statesmen  often  solemnly 
predicted  that  the  Union  would  not  stand 
half  a  century.  No  wonder  if  the  common 
citizen  found  it  difficult  to  arrange  in  his 
own  mind  this  twofold  allegiance,  while  now 
there  is  scarcely  more  conscious  effort  re- 
quired than  for  a  child  to  love  both  its 
parents  without  partiality. 

The  union  of  our  Nation  with  the  States  is 
a  wonderful  combination.  Nothing  like  it 
ever  before  existed  in  ancient  or  modern  times. 
There  are  still  some  who  belittle  the  States 
and  look  upon  the  National  Government  as 
everything  ;  there  are  others,  a  smaller  num- 
ber perhaps,  who  still  pay  homage  to  that  old 
mouldering  corpse  —  State  Sovereignty.  Both 
are  equally  in  error.  It  is  true,  if  we  had  to 
choose  between  the  two,  we  would  give  our 
first  allegiance  to  the  Nation,  and  not  to  the 
State.  This  is  the  normal  condition  of  every 
unbiassed  American  citizen.  At  the  same  time 
let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  one  of  the  great- 
est bulwarks  of  our  liberty  is  found  in  States' 
Rights,  as  will  be  shown  later. 


362      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Our  National  Government  and  the  separate 
State  governments  have  been  blended  in  such 
a  way  as  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  each, 
so  that  National  laws  and  State  laws,  however 
much  they  intermingle,  do  not  conflict,  but 
work  in  one  grand  harmony.  Our  States  are 
to  the  Nation,  as  Mr.  Brice  puts  it,  like  smaller 
wheels  revolving  within  the  circumference  of  a 
greater  wheel;  each  is  supreme  within  its  own 
sphere,  neither  encroaching  upon  the  domain 
of  the  other. 

Origin  of  the  States  and  of  the  Union 

In  order  to  get  a  better  view  of  this  union 
of  States  and  Nation  and  their  mutual  rela- 
tions, let  us  glance  briefly  at  the  origin  of 
both.  In  one  sense  the  States  (I  speak  of 
the  original  thirteen  only)  are  older  than  the 
Nation.  They  had  their  origin  as  colonies, 
under  British  rule,  and  the  oldest  had  existed 
nearly  two  centuries  before  the  Union  was 
formed.  The  colonies  were  closely  related  — 
same  race  for  the  most  part,  same  language, 
aims,  history,  literature ;  but  their  only  politi- 
cal  bond   was   through    England.     They  were 


RELATION   OF   STATES   TO   NATION  363 

wholly  separate  and  had  nothing  to  do  with 
each  other  in  matters  of  government.  Indeed, 
their  governments  were  quite  unlike,  some 
were  royal  colonies,  some  chartered,  some 
proprietary.  No  union  whatever  existed  dur- 
ing this  period,  except  that  of  four  New  Eng- 
land colonies  for  a  brief  period.  But  in 
another  sense  the  Union  is  older  than  the 
States.  This  was  shown  with  much  force  by 
President  Lincoln  in  his  message  to  Congress 
in  1 86 1,  when  arguing  against  the  right  of 
secession.  The  colonies  before  the  Revolu- 
tion were  not  States,  but  simply  parts  of  the 
British  Empire.  It  was  not  until  1776  that 
the  newly  formed  Union,  acting  through  the 
Continental  Congress,  declared  the  colonies 
absolved  from  their  British  allegiance,  and 
erected  them  into  States.  Before  this  they 
were  dependent  colonies,  like  children  not 
yet  of  age;  now  they  became  self-governing 
States  only  by  the  action  of  the  Union :  hence 
the  Union  is  older  than  the  States. 

But  priority  of  birth  has  little  to  do  with 
the  subject  before  us.  Since  the  right  of  seces- 
sion has  been  decided  in  the  negative   by  the 


364     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

outcome  of  the  Civil  War,  this  is  a  matter  of 
speculation  rather  than  of  practical  politics. 
The  kind  of  union  to  be  formed  was  the  great 
question  that  troubled  our  forefathers  ;  for  it 
was  plain  to  be  seen  that  the  Union  hastily 
formed  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  could 
not  be  permanent.  Accordingly,  in  1781,  near 
the  close  of  the  war,  the  new-formed  States 
adopted  a  Constitution  previously  framed  by 
Congress,  and  known  as  "  The  Articles  of  Con- 
federation." This  constitution  was  very  defec- 
tive ; *  the  most  serious  defect  was,  perhaps, 
that  the  General  Government  could  act  only  on 
a  State  and  not  upon  the  individual,  and  thus 
Congress  was  rendered  powerless  to  enforce 
any  National  law,  nor  had  it  power  to  put  into 
operation  its  treaties  with  foreign  nations.  It 
could  only  recommend  to  the  States  as  States, 
and  if  they  chose  to  disregard  its  acts,  as  many 
of  them  did,  there  was  no  power  to  force  them. 
A  government  that  cannot  enforce  its  own  laws 
is  no  government  at  all. 

The  Articles  of  the  Confederation  had  been 
in  force   but   few  years  when  the  state  of  the 

1  See  Chapter  II. 


RELATION  OF  STATES  TO  NATION  365 

country  became  most  deplorable.  The  States 
quarrelled  with  one  another,  laid  tax  on  each 
other's  merchandise,  and  habitually  disregarded 
the  laws  of  Congress.  Yet  the  experience  dur- 
ing this  period  was  wholesome,  for  it  taught 
the  people,  as  nothing  else  could,  that  a  strong 
central  government  was  absolutely  necessary. 
And  a  better  government  came.  The  Conven- 
tion of  1787  at  Philadelphia  framed  a  Con- 
stitution which,  with  the  fifteen  amendments 
subsequently  adopted,  is  still  the  supreme  law 
of  the  land.  With  these  introductory  state- 
ments we  proceed  to  our  subject,  the  relation  of 
the  Union  formed  by  the  Constitution  to  the 
States  that  compose  that  Union. 

The  Three  Kinds  of  Government 

Governments  may  be  divided  for  our  present 
purpose  into  three  kinds,  the  Consolidated,  the 
Federal,  and  the  Confederate.  The  Consoli- 
dated Government  may  be  compared  to  an 
organism,  a  living  body,  in  which  every  part  is 
essential  to  every  other  part.  There  is  a 
central  life-giving  power,  the  heart,  from  which 
flows  the  life-blood   to   every   member   of   the 


366     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

body,  and  no  part  can  live  without  a  constant 
supply  from  this  fountain.  So  with  a  unified, 
consolidated  government;  there  is  a  central, 
all-powerful  authority  from  which  proceeds  the 
entire  governing  force  of  the  nation.  All  sub- 
divisions of  territory  are  but  agents  to  carry  out 
the  dictates  of  the  central  authority.  All 
public  officials  down  to  the  village  mayor  and 
the  justice  of  the  peace  act  under  this  same 
authority.  Such  governments  are  usually 
monarchies,  but  Republican  France  must  be 
numbered  among  them.  Our  own  State  gov- 
ernments are  also  of  this  class.  The  counties, 
townships,  and  city  corporations  are  but  agents 
of  the  State  and  created  by  it.  All  county,  city, 
and  township  officers,  though  elected  by  the 
people,  hold  their  commissions  by  the  authority 
of  the  State  constitution  and  legislature. 

The  second  of  these  three  classes  is  the 
Federal  government.  This  may  be  likened  to 
a  large  building  with  separate  compartments, 
each  with  its  own  industry  —  mercantile,  manu- 
facturing, and  the  like  —  but  all  under  the  same 
roof  and  within  the  same  walls.  Such  a  gov- 
ernment is  composed  of  states,  or  cantons,  each 


RELATION   OF   STATES  TO  NATION  367 

independent  in  its  own  sphere,  but  held  to* 
gether  by  the  outer  walls  of  the  general  govern- 
ment. The  most  conspicuous  example  now.  in 
existence  is  our  own  country. 

The  Confederate  government  is  like  a  cluster 
of  houses  near  together  joined  in  a  league  for 
mutual  protection  and  benefit,  but  each  still 
independent  and  at  liberty  to  withdraw  from  the 
league  at  its  pleasure.1  A  Confederate  govern- 
ment has  never  yet  been  successful.  One  of 
the  most  notable  examples  in  history  is  our  own 
country  after  the  Revolution  and  before  the 
adoption  of  our  present  Constitution.  Switzer- 
land was  such  a  country  until  1848. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  character  of 
our  Government  was  changed  by  the  Consti- 
tution. Its  adoption  wrought  a  political  revo- 
lution. Before  that  it  was  a  confederate 
government;  since  then  a  federal  govern- 
ment. Some  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitu- 
tion were  in  favor  of  abolishing  the  States, 
obliterating  State  lines,  and  forming  one  com- 
pact,   consolidated   government.      Others,    and 

1  These  figures  I  have  enlarged  upon,  receiving  the  sugges- 
tion from  Goldwin  Smith. 


368      SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

a  greater  number,  favored  leaving  all  real 
power  with  the  States,  and  making  the  Gen- 
eral Government  simply  an  agent  to  take 
charge  of  general  matters,  especially  foreign 
affairs.  The  result  was  a  compromise  be- 
tween the  two. 

The  Constitution  is  the  bond  that  unites 
the  several  States  to  the  Nation,  i.e.  to  the 
people  of  all  the  States.  In  the  people  taken 
collectively  resides  sovereignty,  therefore  the 
Nation  is  sovereign,  because  composed  of  the 
whole  people.  The  States  are  not  sovereign, 
because  some  of  the  necessary  prerogatives  of 
sovereignty  are  denied  them. 

National  and  State  Laws 

The  people  of  the  States,  in  thus  surrender- 
ing some  of  their  powers  to  the  General  Gov- 
ernment, by  no  means  surrendered  all,  but 
only  those  which  affect  the  whole  people  or 
the  people  of  more  than  one  State;  all  others 
are  reserved  to  the  States  or  to  the  people. 

Most  of  the  powers  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment are  those  which  affect  the  whole  people. 
It  has  sole  power  to  wage  war,  to  coin  money, 


RELATION  OF  STATES  TO  NATION         369 

and  to  make  treaties  with  foreign  nations.  It 
regulates  commerce  with  foreign  nations  and 
between  the  States,  controls  mail  service,  etc. 
These  powers  are  the  highest  prerogatives  of 
sovereignty,  and  no  nation  can  be  sovereign 
that  does  not  possess  them. 

But  withal  the  Nation  is  far  away  from  the 
daily  life  of  the  citizen  as  compared  with  his 
State.  We  deal  with  the  United  States  when 
we  elect  a  President,  or  a  member  of  Con- 
gress, when  we  mail  a  letter,  or  come  in  con- 
tact with  the  custom-house.  We  are  reminded 
of  the  General  Government  by  the  stamp  on 
a  cigar-box  or  a  beer-keg,  and  by  the  money 
we  use;  but  in  fact  National  law  touches  the 
common  citizen  in  time  of  peace  very  slightly 
indeed.  Nearly  all  the  ordinary  laws  under 
which  we  live  are  State  laws.  All  our  laws 
of  marriage  and  divorce,  of  inheritance,  of 
partnerships  and  corporations,  laws  against 
crime  (with  a  few  exceptions),  all  laws  con- 
cerning our  social  and  business  relations,  are 
State  laws.  Our  public  school  systems,  our  civil 
and  religious  rights,  protection  of  our  homes, 
all  depend  on  State  authority,  and  the  National 

2B 


370     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Government  has  nothing  to  do  with  them.  As 
President  Garfield  said,  "  The  State  Government 
touches  the  citizen  twenty  times  where  the  Na- 
tional Government  touches  him  once." 

But  the  laws  of  the  National  Government, 
though  fewer  in  number,  are  of  a  higher  order 
than  those  of  the  State,  and,  like  the  nervous 
system  in  the  human  body,  which  extends  to 
every  point  of  the  surface  and  centres  in  the 
brain,  so  our  National  system  of  laws  extends 
over  the  entire  country,  penetrates  to  the  re- 
motest corners  of  the  Union  and  they  act  on 
every  citizen  without  regard  to  his  allegiance 
to  his  State.  These  two  sets  of  laws,  the 
Federal  and  the  State,  form  one  vast  dual 
system.  They  often  intermingle,  and  overlap 
at  many  points,  and,  where  they  conflict,  the 
State  law  must  always  give  way.  But  in 
practice  they  seldom  come  in  conflict,  and  the 
principal  reason  is  this  :  Every  State  consti- 
tution ratifies  the  Federal  Constitution  and 
makes  that  instrument  a  part  of  itself,  and 
the  State  officials,  governor,  legislators,  judges, 
and  county  officers  must  take  an  oath  to  sup- 
port   and    defend    the    National    Constitution. 


RELATION  OF   STATES   TO  NATION  37 1 

They  are,  therefore,  in  a  remoter  sense,  United 
State  officers  as  well  as  State  officers,  and  under 
equal  obligations  to  support  both.  Thus  we 
readily  see  how  the  two  sets  of  laws  work  in 
harmony,  since  they  are  executed  in  part  by  the 
same  officials.  While  it  is  true  a  State  is  not 
sovereign,  it  is  supreme  within  its  own  sphere 
even  more  so  than  the  Federal  Government. 

National  and  State  Authority 

The  governments  of  the  Nation  and  of  the 
State  differ  in  two  important  respects.  1.  The 
powers  of  the  Nation  are  delegated  powers,  and 
did  not  exist  before  the  Union  was  formed  in 
1789;  while  the  powers  of  the  State  are  inher- 
ent and  date  back  to  colonial  times.  2.  The 
Federal  Government  has  no  power  beyond  that 
which  is  given  it  in  the  Constitution,  that  which 
affects  the  whole  people;  while  a  State  has 
absolute  power  over  its  own  people  and  its 
own  Territory,  except,  of  course,  that  which  is 
delegated  to  the  Nation.  It  is  true  a  State  is 
forbidden  a  few  things  by  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion, such  as  granting  titles  of  nobility,  passing 
ex  post  facto  laws,  adopting  other  than  a  repub- 


372     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

lican  form  of  government,  denying  a  man  the 
right  to  vote  on  account  of  race  or  color,  and 
the  like ;  but  aside  from  these  and  a  few  others 
a  State  has  absolute  control  over  its  own  af- 
fairs. If  Pennsylvania,  e.g.,  chose  to  obliter- 
ate county  and  township  lines,  to  abolish  city 
charters  and  the  public  school  system,  to  dis- 
franchise a  man  on  any  ground  whatever  ex- 
cept race  or  color,  or,  indeed,  to  become  a 
veritable  tyrant,  there  is  no  power  in  the  Gen- 
eral Government  to  prevent  it.  The  Nation 
could  not  interfere  without  violating  its  own 
Constitution.  The  State  is  absolute  master 
of  its  own  affairs.  When  we  say  that  the 
States  are  subordinate  to  the  Nation,  we  do 
not  mean  that  they  can  be  commanded  by  it, 
but  simply  that  they  are  less  national  in  their 
functions.  States'  Rights  are  as  sacred  and 
inviolable  as  National  rights;  and  the  Nation 
has  no  more  authority  to  overthrow  the  State 
governments  or  to  encroach  upon  States' 
Rights,  beyond  that  granted  by  the  Constitu- 
tion, than  the  States  have  to  overthrow  its  au- 
thority. In  either  case  it  would  be  revolution. 
A    State,    therefore,    is    independent    of  the 


RELATION   OF  STATES  TO  NATION  373 

Federal  Government  in  its  own  domain,  nor 
does  it  derive  its  powers  from  the  latter;  but 
the  moment  it  gets  beyond  its  own  boundary 
its  authority  ceases,  and  it  comes  in  contact 
with  Federal  authority.  In  fact,  a  State  has 
no  power  whatever  beyond  its  own  bounds. 
It  cannot  even  pursue  and  bring  back  an  es- 
caped criminal  from  another  State  without 
National  authority ;  it  cannot  deny  to  citizens 
from  another  State  the  privileges  and  immuni-* 
ties  extended  to  its  own  citizens ;  it  cannot 
lay  the  smallest  tax,  or  tariff  of  any  kind, 
upon  the  imports  from  another  State.  While 
the  States,  as  we  have  noticed,  enjoy  domestic 
independence,  they  have  no  foreign  relations 
whatever,  not  even  with  one  another.  Indeed, 
in  practice,  aside  from  demanding  and  giving 
up  fugitives  from  justice,  the  States  have  little 
to  do  with  each  other.  They  are  almost  as 
far  apart  in  their  political  relations  as  they 
were  in  colonial  times,  the  chief  difference 
being  that  now  their  governments  are  far 
more  uniform  and  their  common  allegiance 
has  been  transferred  from  the  British  Crown 
to  a  Union  of  their  own  making. 


374     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

The  relation  of  the  Nation  to  the  States 
has  been  compared  to  that  of  a  parent  to  the 
child;  but  the  comparison  is  ill-chosen.  The 
parent  has  an  original,  inherent  right  to  train 
and  command  the  child  in  every  honorable 
way ;  but  the  Nation  has  no  such  power  over 
the  States,  and  what  power  it  has  is  not  in- 
herent and  not  original.  A  better  comparison 
would  be  with  the  relation  between  a  teacher 
and  pupil.  A  teacher  has  real  authority  over 
the  pupil ;  she  directs  his  studies,  teaches  him 
good  manners,  and  has  power  to  command  him 
in  many  ways ;  but  her  authority  is  limited,  is 
delegated,  and  exists  only  by  virtue  of  a  con- 
tract for  a  specified  time.  Outside  of  school 
hours  she  has  no  power  over  the  child,  and 
even  during  school  hours  her  authority  is 
not  absolute.  She  has  no  right  to  eat  the 
child's  dinner,  nor  to  rob  him  of  anything 
that  is  his.  So  with  the  General  Government: 
it  has  real  authority  over  the  whole  people, 
but  that  authority  is  limited,  is  delegated,  and 
exists  only  by  the  virtue  of  a  written  bond ; 
but,  unlike  that  of  the  teacher,  it  has  no  time 
limit ;  it  is  perpetual.     As  the  teacher  has  no 


RELATION   OF  STATES  TO  NATION  375 

power  over  the  pupil  outside  of  school  hours, 
so  the  Nation  has  no  right  to  command  the 
citizens  in  matters  that  concern  the  State 
only.  As  the  teacher  has  not  absolute  power 
over  the  pupil  even  in  the  schoolroom,  so  the 
Nation  has  not  absolute  power  over  any  law- 
abiding  citizen.  The  President  of  the  United 
States  has  no  more  right  to  command  you  or 
me  in  time  of  peace  than  we  have  to  com- 
mand him,  nor  could  the  unanimous  vote  of 
both  Houses  of  Congress  confer  such  power 
upon  him. 

We  live  under  a  vast  dual  system,  the  first 
of  its  kind  in  human  history,  though  since  1848 
the  Swiss  government  is  very  similar  to  our 
own,  and  there  are  also  some  points  of  simi- 
larity in  the  more  recently  formed  German 
Empire  and  in  some  other  countries.  Our 
system  is  not  an  arbitrary  arrangement;  it  is 
a  natural  growth.  The  power  of  the  States 
comes  down  to  us  from  colonial  days,  the  State 
constitutions  being  but  modifications  of  the 
royal  charters,  while  the  powers  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government,  though  conferred  at  a  later 
date,  were  nevertheless  necessary.     When  the 


376     SIDE   LIGHTS   ON   AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Constitution  was  framed  it  was  impossible 
and  undesirable  to  obliterate  State  lines  and 
to  create  a  consolidated  government,  while  a 
mere  confederation  of  States,  which  they  al- 
ready had,  was  equally  undesirable  and  could 
not  be  permanent.  Our  federal  system,  there- 
fore, was  not  only  natural,  but  necessary. 

Advantages  of  the  Federal  System 

A  question  here  is  pertinent :  What  are  the 
advantages  of  the  federal  system  ?  and  an- 
other :  Is  it  the  best  system  for  our  American 
government?  To  the  first  I  would  answer, 
The  advantages  are  many,  a  few  of  which  we 
notice.  Our  government  is  exceedingly  com- 
plex in  its  working.  This  is  an  advantage  of 
the  greatest  value.  The  simpler  some  things 
are,  the  better,  but  not  so  with  the  government 
of  a  great  nation.  It  ought  to  be  so  complex 
that  no  one  man  or  small  body  of  men  can 
grasp,  or  comprehend,  or  manage  it.  This 
should  be  the  work  of  the  multitude,  and  so  it 
is  in  this  country. 

Let  me  quote  a  few  words  from  Webster  on 
this   point.      "Nothing   is    more   deceptive   or 


RELATION  OF  STATES  TO  NATION  377 

more  dangerous  than  the  pretence  of  a  desire 
to  simplify  government.  The  simplest  govern- 
ments are  despotisms ;  the  next  simplest,  lim- 
ited monarchies.  Every  free  government  is 
necessarily  complicated.  If  we  abolish  the 
distinction  of  branches  and  have  but  one 
branch ;  if  we  abolish  jury  trials  and  leave 
all  to  the  judge  ;  if  we  then  ordain  that  the 
legislator  shall  be  himself  that  judge;  if  we 
place  the  executive  power  in  the  same  hands, 
we  may  readily  simplify  government.  We  may 
easily  bring  it  to  the  simplest  of  all  possible 
forms,  a  pure  despotism.  But  a  separation 
of  departments,  so  far  as  practicable,  and  the 
preservation  of  clear  lines  between  them,  is 
the  fundamental  idea  in  the  creation  of  all 
our  constitutions." 

This  complexity  of  government,  this  distri- 
bution of  power  among  all  the  people,  is  the 
chief  corner-stone  of  our  federal  system.  It 
not  only  secures  the  personal  attention  and 
interest  of  the  common  citizen  in  the  making 
and  enforcing  of  laws,  thus  educating  him  in 
political  wisdom,  as  Professor  Macy  puts  it, 
but  it   also   provides  better   local   laws.      The 


378      SIDE   LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

people  of  any  neighborhood  know  better  what 
local  laws  they  need,  how  to  frame  and  execute 
them,  than  does  the  far-away  power  of  a  cen- 
tral government.  And  also  where  the  people 
have  a  hand  in  the  making  of  their  own  laws 
and  carrying  on  their  own  government,  patriot- 
ism is  everywhere  fostered,  for  where  a  man's 
treasure  is,  there  will  his  heart  be  also. 

In  Russia  the  common  people  know  and 
care  little  or  nothing  about  their  government. 
They  only  know  that  there  is  a  great  central 
Power  at  St.  Petersburg  that  pervades  the 
whole  nation,  from  which  emanates  all  law, 
and  they  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  laws 
except  to  obey  them.  They  are  like  untutored 
children  or  dumb  driven  cattle,  in  govern- 
mental affairs ;  and  should  anything  occur  to 
destroy  the  central  government  they  would 
be  helpless  and  wholly  without  ability  to  gov- 
ern themselves ;  while  in  America  the  humblest 
citizen  knows  something  about  public  affairs, 
and,  should  such  an  emergency  arise,  there 
is  scarcely  a  county  in  any  State  but  could 
furnish  men  capable  of  being  governor  of  the 
State,  and  scarcely  a  State  in  the  Union  that 


RELATION   OF   STATES  TO  NATION  379 

could  not  furnish  a  score  of  men  capable  of 
filling  the  presidential  office  with  an  ability 
equal  to  that  of  the  average  President. 

If  our  National  Government  should  be  over- 
thrown, the  self-governing  States  would  pre- 
serve the  general  equilibrium  of  power  and 
prevent  universal  anarchy.  They  would  prob- 
ably move  steadily  and  serenely  on  until  a  new 
Union  could  be  formed.  If  Congress  were  to 
disband,  the  President  to  resign,  and  our  capi- 
tal to  fall  into  the  hands  of  ruffians  and  anar- 
chists, the  people  would  be  greatly  agitated, 
of  course,  but  the  Government  as  such  would 
not  be  annihilated,  nor  perhaps  greatly  dis- 
turbed. Why  ?  Because  our  system  is  such 
that  each  separate  part  takes  care  of  itself. 
If  there  is  serious  political  disturbance  in  one 
or  more  States,  the  General  Government  is  not 
threatened,  and  for  the  same  reason.  We  have 
compared  a  federal  government  to  a  great 
building  with  separate  compartments,  each  with 
its  own  industry.  Such  is  our  government ; 
and  if  one  branch  of  industry  becomes  un- 
settled or  ruined,  the  rest  need  not  be  seri- 
ously  disturbed.      Or    if    the    outer   walls   be 


380     SIDE   LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

demolished,  the  various  compartments  may  be 
preserved  until  the  walls  are  rebuilt.  How 
impossible  this  would  be  in  a  consolidated 
government,  a  living  organism  in  which  every 
part  is  dependent  for  its  life  and  existence  on 
the  heart,  the  central  life-giving  fountain. 

Another  advantage  of  the  federal  system 
is  that  the  distribution  of  power  among  the 
States  simplifies  the  work  of  Congress,  and 
enables  that  body  to  confine  itself  to  National 
affairs.  Our  forty-five  States  require  but  little 
more  National  legislation  than  did  the  original 
thirteen.  An  English  editor  wholly  misunder- 
stood the  situation  when,  commenting  on  the 
recent  admission  into  the  Union  of  four  new 
States  together,  he  said  that  it  remained  to 
be  seen  whether  the  Government  could  bear 
such  a  strain.  Indeed,  Congress  was  greatly 
relieved  with  their  admission  into  the  Union.1 
While  in  their  territorial  state  Congress  had 
to  govern  them ;  but  on  their  admission  into 
the  Union,  they  became  of  age  and  self-gov- 
erning, and  Congress  has  no  more  to  do  with 
them  now  than  with  Ohio  or  New  York.     Our 

1  Macy's  "  Our  Government,"  p.  234. 


RELATION   OF   STATES  TO  NATION  38 1 

system  is  such  that  we  can  expand  and  add 
new  States  almost  indefinitely  without  endanger- 
ing the  General  Government,  or  scarcely  increas- 
ing its  burdens. 

Now,  the  second  question  :  Is  the  federal 
system  the  best  for  our  American  govern- 
ment ?  My  answer  is,  that  it  is  not  only  the 
best,  but  the  only  system  that  could  possibly 
be  permanent.  A  confederation,  a  league  of 
the  States  loosely  bound  together,  from  which 
any  one  has  the  right  to  withdraw,  could  not 
endure.  Such  a  government  would  certainly 
fall  apart  from  its  own  weight. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  unified,  consolidated 
government  would  be  equally  impossible.  The 
country  is  too  vast,  and  the  people  too  well 
educated  and  too  independent  and  jealous  of 
their  liberties  to  submit  to  any  central  all-per- 
vading authority,  or  to  permit  their  local  affairs 
to  be  managed  by  other  hands  than  their 
own. 

States'  Rights 

I  have  said  that  States'  Rights  constitute 
one   of    our    great    bulwarks   of    liberty   as   a 


382     SIDE  LIGHTS   ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

nation.  We  know  that  the  tendency  of  human 
government  is  toward  the  monarchial.  This 
is  not  usually  a  natural  or  gradual  tendency. 
It  goes  by  sudden  bounds,  and  is  caused  by 
the  vast  difference  in  the  qualities  of  leader- 
ship in  men,  and  by  man's  universal  thirst  for 
power.  It  is  true,  not  because  the  people 
desire  it,  but  because  they  are  led  and  driven 
by  some  commanding  genius.  The  most  con-, 
spicuous  examples  in  history  are  those  of  Caesar, 
who  transformed  the  Roman  Republic  into  a 
monarchy,  and  of  Napoleon,  who,  with  his 
transcendent  powers  of  leadership,  seized  in  his 
fatal  grasp  the  new-born  Republic  of  France, 
and  became  its  absolute  monarch  within  a  few 
years  after  the  blood-bought  liberties  of  the 
people  had  been  secured.  And  even  to-day 
the  Republic  of  France  is  so  solidified  that  a 
second  Napoleon,  should  one  arise,  would  not 
find  it  difficult  to  seize  the  reigns  of  govern- 
ment and  merge  it  into  a  monarchy  and  des- 
potism. 

But  such  a  transformation  would  be  impos- 
sible in  the  United  States,  and  one  of  the 
greatest    safeguards    against    it    is    found    in 


RELATION  OF  STATES  TO  NATION  383 

States'  Rights.  Be  it  remembered  that  only 
a  part  of  the  vast  power  of  the  people  has 
been  delegated  to  the  General  Government. 
The  States  are  the  residuaries  of  power.  Sup- 
pose one  of  our  leaders  in  National  politics  to 
be  a  Napoleon  in  ability  and  in  selfish  ambition. 
Even  suppose  him  to  be  President  of  the  United 
States  (though  it  would  be  far  more  difficult 
for  such  a  man  to  reach  that  position  than  for 
an  ordinary  statesman),  and  to  conspire  with 
Congress  and  to  secure  their  support  in  an 
attempt  to  overthrow  the  Republic  and  set  up 
a  monarchy  with  himself  at  its  head.  What 
would  be  the  result  ?  He  would  instantly  come 
into  contact  with  forty-five  powerful  State  gov- 
ernments, —  some  of  them  more  powerful  than 
the  minor  European  monarchies,  —  and  upon 
this  rock  he  would  be  dashed  to  pieces.  It 
would  require  a  greater  man  than  Caesar  or 
Napoleon  to  accomplish  such  an  end,  and  a 
man  less  wise  than  either  would  be  too  wise 
to  undertake  so  hopeless  a  task.  Let  me  re- 
peat, the  States  are  the  residuaries  of  power 
is  America,  and  States'  Rights  is  the  chief 
corner-stone  of  our  fabric  of  free  government. 


384     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN   HISTORY 

Let  no  true  American  belittle  States'  Rights. 
It  is  true  that  before  the  war,  for  years,  the 
term  was  identified  with  State  Sovereignty, 
and  in  common  parlance  it  referred  to  but 
one  supposed  right  of  the  States  —  the  right 
of  secession.  The  term  was  abused  and  mis- 
used until  it  almost  became  an  offence  to  the 
honest,  patriotic  citizen ;  but  that  time  is  past, 
the  bone  of  contention  is  removed,  and  the 
States  have  again  resumed  their  normal  posi- 
tion in  the  great  structure  of  the  National  Gov- 
ernment. Every  true-hearted  American  who 
studies  this  intricate  problem,  the  relation  of 
the  States  and  the  Nation,  will  plainly  see  that 
the  hand  of  Providence  has  been  over  it  all, 
and  while  he  will  rejoice  in  our  grand  and 
glorious  Union,  he  will  take  scarcely  less 
pride  in  States'  Rights,  the  great  palladium  of 
our  liberty. 


INDEX 


Aaron  I.,  see  Burr,  Aaron. 

Aberdeen,  Lord,  186. 

Adams,  Henry,  quoted,  344. 

Adams,  John,  debater  in  Con- 
gress, n;  seconds  Lee's  mo- 
tion in  Congress  for  indepen- 
dence, 18  ;  makes  great  speech 
in  Congress,  20;  elected  Vice- 
President,  56 ;  inauguration, 
62;  elected  President,  68,  343. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  possible 
author  of  Monroe  Doctrine, 
173;  sends  ministers  to  Pan- 
ama Congress,  174 ;  entertains 
Lafayette,  202;  appoints  Har- 
rison minister  to  Colombia,  231, 
348. 

Adams,  Samuel,  early  leader  for 
independence,  5 ;  broad  views 
and  pure  motives  of,  11;  op- 
posed petitions,  11;  quotation 
from,  18 ;  won  for  Constitution, 

5°- 

Address,  Washington's  Farewell, 
168. 

African  coast,  capturing  negroes 
on,  154. 

Alabama,  Burr  captured  in,  134. 

Albany,  94. 

Alexandria,  58. 

Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  their 
importance,  65  ;  Alien  Law  two- 
fold, 70;  never  enforced,  72; 
Sedition  Law,  twofold,  71 ;  its 
provisions,   71;   object,  72;   in 


operation,  72;  object  and  re- 
sult of  Alien  and  Sedition 
Laws,  76,  344. 

Alleghany  Mountains,  230. 

Alliance,  Holy,  see  Holy  Alli- 
ance. 

Alston,  Joseph,  120. 

Alston,  Mrs.,  see  Theodosia 
Burr. 

Amendments  to  Constitution,  52. 

American  River,  245,  247. 

Ames,  Fisher,  158. 

Anne,  Queen,  151. 

Anti-Federalists  oppose  Constitu- 
tion, 49. 

Anti-Mason  party,  227. 

Appalachian  Mountains,  195. 

Appeal  of  Independent  Demo- 
crats, 303. 

Arkansas,  242. 

Articles  of  Confederation,  defects 
in,  28;  proposed  in  1776,  28; 
adopted,  29;  364. 

Atlantic  Ocean,  107. 

Austria,  in  Holy  Alliance,  169. 

Balance  of  Power,  191,  192. 
Baltimore,  139,  289. 
Baltimore  County,  271. 
Bank,  United  States,  224,  352. 
Barbadoes,  151. 
Benton,  Thomas  H.,  261. 
Big  Horn  River,  115. 
Blaine,  James  G.,  178. 
Blennerhassett, .  Harman,   island 


2C 


385 


386 


INDEX 


home  in  the  Ohio,  123;  enters 
Burr's  conspiracy,  128  ;  indicted 
for  misdemeanor  in  Ohio,  138. 

Blennerhassett  Island,  123,  128. 

Blow,  Anthony,  279. 

Boston  Port  Bill,  6. 

Brandywine,  the,  207. 

Brannan,  Samuel,  246. 

Britain,  Great,  British  Govern- 
ment, see  England. 

Brown,  Henry,  285. 

Buchanan,  James,  protests  against 
foreign  occupation  of  Mexico, 
182 ;  297, 314 ;  encounters  Doug- 
las, 316. 

Buena  Vista,  259. 

Bunker  Hill,  4,  204.     • 

Bunker  Hill  monument,  204,  205. 

Burns,  Anthony,  274. 

Burr,  Aaron,  his  descent,  118 ;  in 
Revolution,  118;  becomes  law- 
yer, senator,  Vice-President, 
119;  challenges  Hamilton  to 
duel,  120;  misfortunes  begin, 
121 ;  feeling  against,  121 ;  flees 
South,  121;  goes  West,  122; 
reaches  Pittsburg,  122;  Mari- 
etta, 123 ;  visits  Blennerhassett's 
Island,  124;  Nashville,  125; 
conspires  against  the  Govern- 
ment, 125  sq. ;  returns  to  Wash- 
ington, 127;  his  energy,  127; 
to  be  Aaron  I.,  128  ;  betrayed  by 
Wilkinson,  130 ;  escapes  in  dis- 
guise, 132;  arrested,  134;  at- 
tempted escape,  135 ;  tried  and 
acquitted  at  Richmond,  136^. ; 
escapes  from  a  mob,  139 ;  goes 
abroad,  139;  returns,  141 ;  later 
life,  144  sq. ;  generosity  of,  145 ; 
his  character,  146;  death,  147. 

Cadmus,  the,  196. 
Caesar,  Julius,  382. 


Calhoun,  John  Caldwell,  leadef 
of  school  of  Southern  states- 
men, 78,  176,  260;  his  mistake, 
264;  348. 

California,  political  significance 
of,  243;  miners  reach,  250; 
in  National  politics,  257;  ad- 
mitted as  free  State,  262;  of- 
fends the  South,  264. 

Canada,  insurrection  in;  cause, 
209;  led  by  MacKenzie  and 
Papinau,  210;  sympathizers  in 
United  States,  210;  put  down 
by  Colborne,  211 ;  fugitive 
slaves  sent  to,  276. 

Canning,  171. 

Carleton,  threatening  to  invade 
New  York,  17. 

Car  of  Neptune,  94. 

Caroline,  the,  engaged  in  illegal 
trade,  212  ;  destroyed  by  Brit- 
ish, 214. 

Carroll,  Charles,  17. 

Cascades,  109. 

Cass,  Lewis,  297. 

Castle  Garden,  198. 

Central  America,  slavery  in,  149. 

Charleston,  289. 

Chase,  Salmon  P.,  261,  303,  355. 

Chester,  58,  135. 

Chicago,  305,  323. 

Cholera,  249. 

Christiana,  272. 

Christianity,  effect  on  slavery,  149. 

Cincinnati,  Burr  reaches,  124, 
129. 

Civil  War,  148,  154, 177, 184,  292, 
and  passim. 

Clark,  Captain,  206. 

Clarke,  Captain  William,  chosen 
to  explore  Northwest,  97 ;  nar- 
rowly escapes  death,  103;  gen- 
eral of  militia,  111;  governor 
of  Missouri  in. 


INDEX 


3«7 


Clarke  River,  108. 

Clatsop,  Fort,  no. 

Clay,  Henry,  defends  Aaron  Burr, 
129 ;  161 ;  174 ;  protests  against 
French  in  Cuba,  180 ;  a  candi- 
date for  presidency,  226 ;  set 
aside  by  the  politicians,  227; 
introduces  Omnibus  Bill,  261 ; 
266;  348. 

Clayton,  John  M.,  177. 

Clayton-Bulwer  treaty,  177,  178. 

Clermont,  the,  on  the  Hudson,  92. 

Cleveland,  Grover,  startling  mes- 
sage on  Venezuelan  boundary 
question,  189. 

Clinton,  George,  62. 

Colborne,  Sir  John,  suppresses 
Canadian  rebellion,  211. 

Coloma,   site  of  gold  discovery, 

245.  251- 

Colombia,  United  States  of,  176. 

Colonies,  instructed  delegates  in 
Congress  against  indepen- 
dence, 4;  three  greatest,  15; 
parts  of  British  Empire,  363. 

Colonists,  their  love  for  England, 
3-5  ;  most  of  them  native  born, 
4 ;  hope  of  reconciliation  with 
the  King,  4;  driven  to  seek 
independence,  6 ;  purchased 
slaves,  151. 

Colter,  John,  terrible  experience 
with  Indians,  in  sq. 

Colt  Killed  River,  109. 

Columbia,  271;  birth-place  of 
Underground  Railroad,  276; 

Columbia,  the,  108. 

Columbia  River,  107,  109,  no. 

Columbus,  149. 

Commerce,  Congress  has  no 
control  over  it  under  Articles 
of  Confederation,  31. 

"  Common  Sense,"  written  by 
Paine,  10. 


Compromises,  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, 42  sq. 

Compromise  Measures  of  1850, 
261. 

Compromise,  Missouri,  see  Mis- 
souri Compromise. 

Confederate  government,  367. 

Congress,  United  States,  consists 
of  two  houses,  43 ;  counts 
electoral  votes,  56,  and  passim. 

Connecticut,  quarrels  with  New 
York,  33 ;  with  Pennsylvania 
over  Wyoming  Valley,  34. 

Consolidated  government,  365. 

Constitution,  framing  of,  24  sq.  ; 
compromises  of,  42  sq. ;  fin- 
ished, 47 ;  before  the  people, 
48 ;  ratified  by  States,  49-52 ; 
recognizes  property  in  slaves, 
156 ;  leaves  foreign  slave-trade 
open  for  twenty-one  years,  156; 
265  ;  269 ;  construction  of,  346 ; 
wrought  a  political  revolution, 

367. 
Constitutional  Convention,  met  in 
Philadelphia,  37 ;  called  an 
assembly  of  demigods  by  Jeffer- 
son, 37  ;  personnel,  38  ;  sessions 
in  secret,  40;  adjournment,  47, 

365- 

Construction  of  Constitution,  346. 

Continental  Congress,  met  at 
Philadelphia,  1 ;  sent  petition  to 
King,  7 ;  answers  King's  proc- 
lamation, 8 ;  appoints  com- 
mittees to  correspond  with 
foreign  nations,  8 ;  a  view  of, 
14;  some  members  of,  14; 
delays  passing  declaration,  19  ; 
passes  it  July  2,  21 ;  weakness 
under  Articles  of  Confedera- 
tion, 31 ;  pronounces  against 
slave-trade,  152 

Continental  money,  32. 


388 


INDEX 


Cooper,  Thomas,  75. 
Cordelia,  281. 
Cornwallis,  Lord,  194. 
Corwin,  Thomas,  233. 
Cotton-gin,  157. 
Council  Bluffs,  100. 
Craft,  William  and  Ellen,  288. 
Crawford,  William  H.,  349. 
Crittenden,  John  J.,  221,  317. 
Cuba,  size,  179 ;  faithful  to  Spain, 

179. 
Cumberland  River,  126,  129. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  261. 

Dayton,  233. 

Dayton,  Jonathan,  conspires  with 
Burr,  125. 

Dayton,  William  L.,  356. 

Dearborn  River,  108. 

Declaration  of  Independence, 
moved  by  Lee  in  Congress,  18 ; 
passed  July  2,  21 ;  read  in 
cities,  to  the  army,  etc.,  23; 
position  on  slavery,  152;  Lin- 
coln's appeal  to,  325,  326. 

Delaware,  divided  on  indepen- 
dence, 20 ;  first  State  to  adopt 
Constitution,  49. 

Delaware  River,  Fitch's  steam- 
boat on,  84. 

Democratic  party,  founded  by 
Jefferson,  stood  for  local  self- 
government,  66,  345;  name 
adopted,  345 ;  differs  from 
Federal  party,  346 ;  factions  of 
in  1824,  347  ;  wonderful  vitality 
of,  349 ;  its  achievements,  350. 

Democrats,  nominate  Van  Buren, 
232,  and  passim. 

De  Soto,  96. 

Dickinson,  John,  draws  up  peti- 
tion to  King,  7  ;  writer,  patriot, 
opposes  independence,  16; 
answers  Adams,  20. 


"Doughfaces,"  164. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  261,  297-, 
birth,  300;  reports  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill,  301 ;  his  powers, 
304 ;  burned  in  effigy,  306 ;  rise 
in  public  life,  312 ;  pays  tribute 
to  Lincoln,  323;  his  noble 
stand  in  1861,  335. 

Dred  Scott  Decision,  324,  330. 

Drew,  Captain,  destroys  the 
Caroline,  214. 

East,  belief  that  it  would  be  sev- 
ered from  the  West,  118 ;  news 
of  gold  discovery  reaches,  248. 

Eaton,  General,  apprises  Jeffer- 
son of  Burr's  plot,  128. 

Elba,  134. 

Embargo,  141. 

England,  responsible  for  slavery 
in  America,  150;  profited  by 
slave-trade,  150 ;  represented 
in  Verona  conference,  170; 
proposes  tripartite  agreement, 
181,  182;  refuses  compromise 
with  Venezuela,  186;  assumes 
destruction  of  the  Caroline,  220. 

"  Era  of  good  feeling,"  167. 

Essequibo  River,  186. 

Europe,  slavery  in,  149. 

Everett,  Edward,  198,  304. 

Falls  of  the  Ohio,  124. 

Faneuil  Hall,  274. 

Federal  Government,  365-366 ; 
advantages  of,  376. 

Federal  Hall  (New  York),  62. 

Federal  party,  stood  for  strong 
government,  65,  341 ;  folly  of, 
68 ;  stoops  to  humble  its  ene- 
mies, 70 ;  history  of,  341  sq. ; 
general  tendency  of,  343  ;  never 
popular,  vital  defect,  344 ;  truth 
embodied  in  its  doctrine,  345. 


INDEX 


389 


Federalists,  favor  Constitution ,49. 

Fifteenth  Congress,  158. 

Fillmore,  Millard,  262  ;  signs  Fu- 
gitive Slave  Law,  266,  272,  295. 

Fitch,  John,  tragical  life,  83; 
builds  steamboat  on  Dela- 
ware, 84;  his  poverty,  84; 
death,  85. 

Fleet,  British,  harassing  southern 
coast,  17. 

Florida,  242. 

Forsyth,  John,  215. 

"  Forty-Niners,"  248. 

Fourth  of  July,  National  holiday, 

3-  22- 

Fox,  English  minister,  215. 

France,  designs  on  Cuba,  179; 
proposes  tripartite  agreement, 
181 ;  attempts  conquest  of 
Mexico,  183;  motive  for  aid- 
ing  America    in    Revolution, 

193- 

Frankfort,  129. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  member  of 
Continental  Congress,  14; 
fame,  15 ;  member  of  com- 
mittee on  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, 19;  his  plan  of 
union,  1754,  28;  in  Constitu- 
tional Convention,  38 ;  anec- 
dote by,  48. 

Freeport,  323. 

Freeport  Doctrine,  328  sq. 

Free-soil  Democrats,  303. 

Fremont,  John  C,  356. 

French  fleet,  appears  off  Cuba, 

179. 

French  Government,  366,  382. 

Friends,  151,  272. 

Fugitive  Slave  Law,  passed,  265 ; 
its  injustice,  267 ;  denounced 
at  the  North,  269;  most  objec- 
tionable feature,  270 ;  in  opera- 
tion, 271  sg. 


Fulton,  Robert,  his  predecessors, 
82  ;  descent,  85  ;  early  life,  85 ; 
early  inventions,  86;  artist,  86  ; 
in  foreign  lands,  87  sq. ;  experi- 
ments on  Seine,  88 ;  advan- 
tages, 91 ;  navigates  the  Hud- 
son with  Clermont,  92  ;  builds 
more  boats,  94 ;  appearance, 
94;  death,  95. 

Gaines,  Captain,  134. 

Gallatin  River,  108. 

Garfield,  James  A.,  177. 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  263, 
290. 

George  III.,  petition  to,  6-7; 
refuses  to  receive  petition,  7; 
proclamation,  declares  colo- 
nists out  of  his  protection,  8; 
employs  Hessians,  9;  incites 
Indians  to  murder,  9. 

Georgia,  makes  war  on  Indians, 
30;  protests  against  prohibit- 
ing African  slave-trade,  45 ; 
ratifies  Constitution,  49  ;  Burr 
passes  through,  135. 

Gerry,  Elbridge,  member  of  old 
Congress,  15;  of  Constitutional 
Convention,  38  ;  opposes  Con- 
stitution, 50. 

Gold,  discovery  of  in  California, 
by  Marshall,  245. 

Golden  Gate,  251. 

Gorsuch,  271. 

Greeley,  Horace,  226;  founds 
Log  Cabin,  233;  advocates  re- 
election of  Douglas,  317 ;  355. 

Grey,  Captain,  108. 

Greytown,  178. 

Grey's  Ferry,  ^8. 

Guadaloupe   Hidalgo,  treaty  of, 

243. 
Guiana,  British,  185,  190. 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  107. 


390 


INDEX 


"  Hail  Columbia,"  written,  69. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  career  of, 
member  of  Constitutional  Con- 
vention, 39 ;  tendency  as  states- 
man, 66 ;  antagonist  of  Jeffer- 
son, 67,  342;  challenged  by 
Burr,  120;  slain,  121. 

Hancock,  John,  signs  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  22;  op- 
poses Constitution,  50. 

Harnet,  Cornelius,  12. 

Harrisburg,  225. 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  member 
Continental  Congress,  15 ; 
friend  of  Washington,  15. 

Harrison,  William  Henry,  219, 
220,  223,  226 ;  nominated  for 
presidency,  227;  early  record, 
229;  minister  to  Colombia, 
231 ;  recalled  by  Jackson,  231 ; 
his  ability,  231 ;  great  triumph 
at  election,  237;  besieged  with 
office-seekers,  238 ;  falls  ill, 
239 ;  dies,  239. 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  298. 

Hayti,  174. 

Henry,  Patrick,  speech  before 
Virginia  convention,  11 ;  op- 
poses Constitutional  Conven- 
tion, 36. 

Henry,  William,  82. 

Hinson,  Colonel,  132. 

Holy  Alliance,  169,  171. 

Hood,  Mount,  109. 

Hopkinson,  Francis,  17. 

Hopkinson,  Joseph,  wrote  "  Hail 
Columbia,"  69. 

Horn,  Cape,  251. 

House  of  Commons,  British,  209. 

House  of  Representatives,  based 
on  population,  43 ;  disagrees 
with  Senate  on  Missouri  Bill, 
161,  164;  agrees  to  compro- 
mise, 164;  receives  Lafayette, 


201 ;  elects  Adams  President, 
201 ;  votes  bonus  to  Lafayette, 
202. 

House  and  Slave  Tax  Laws,  70. 

Houston,  Sam,  304. 

Howes,  moving  on  New  York, 
17- 

Hudson  River,  navigated  by  Ful- 
ton, 92. 

Independence,  declared  at  Phila- 
delphia, 1 ;  causes  that  led  to, 
6;  talked  of  openly,  8  ;  progress 
toward,  8. 

Independent  Treasury,  353. 

Indian  Story,  in  sq. 

Indian  Territory,  242. 

Indiana  Territory,  230. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  conferred  with 
Burr,  126 ;  visited  by  Lafayette, 
200,  224;  enters  presidential 
race,  348. 

Jay,  John,  suggests  petition  to 
King,  7;  receives  votes  in 
electoral  college,  56. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  member  of 
Continental  Congress,  14  ; 
chosen  chairman  committee 
on  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence, 19;  writes  Declaration, 
22 ;  founds  Democratic  or  Na- 
tional Republican  party,  66; 
antagonist  of  Hamilton,  67; 
wrote  Kentucky  Resolutions, 
76;  his  patriotism,  79;  father 
of  Lewis  and  Clarke  expedi- 
tion, 96;  slow  to  believe  in 
Burr's  plot,  128 ;  issues  procla- 
mation against  Burr's  con- 
spiracy, 130;  introduces  ordi- 
nance in  Congress  to  prohibit 
slavery,  153 ;  congratulates 
Congress,  156 ;  visited  by  La- 


INDEX 


391 


fayette,    200;     founds    Demo- 
cratic party,  342. 

Jefferson  River,  108. 

"Jerry  Rescue,"  273. 

John  Day  River,  108. 

Johnson,  Jane,  283. 

Johnson,  Richard  M.,  232. 

Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  intro- 
duced by  Douglas,  302;  pas- 
sage of,  305 ;  reception  at  the 
North,  306;  effect,  308,  324, 
348. 

Kentucky,  emigrants  from,  153. 

Kentucky  and  Virginia  Resolu- 
tions, their  authors,  76;  con- 
tents, 77  ;  object,  78  ;  question 
opened  by  them,  78. 

King,  Rufus,  in  Constitutional 
Convention,  39;  opposes  sla- 
very in  Missouri,  162. 

Lafayette,  Marquis  de,  motive  in 
aiding  colonists,  193 ;  in  Aus- 
trian prison,  194;  invited  to 
visit  America,  196 ;  arrives, 
196;  visits  Boston,  197;  re- 
ception in  New  York,  198;  in 
Philadelphia,  199;  appearance, 
199,  200;  visits  all  the  States, 
200;  at  the  capital,  200;  re- 
ceives bonus  from  Congress, 
202;  visits  Mt.  Vernon  and 
Bunker  Hill,  203  sq, ;  pays 
homage  to  dust  of  Washing- 
ton, 203 ;  great  reception  at 
Boston,  204;  returns  to  his 
native  land,  207. 

Lafayette,  George  Washington, 
196. 

Lancaster,  82. 

Lancaster  County,  271. 

Lecompton  Constitution,  315. 

Lee,   Richard    Henry,    member 


of  Continental  Congress,  15; 
moved  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence in  .  Congress,  18; 
opposes  Constitutional  Con- 
vention, 36;  opposes  it  in 
Congress,  49. 

Lesseps,  Ferdinand  de,  177. 

Levasseur,  M.,  203. 

Lewis  and  Clarke  expedition, 
composition  of  party,  98; 
ascends  the  Missouri,  99; 
reaches  Rocky  Mountains, 
103;  overtaken  by  storm,  103; 
reaches  the  Pacific,  109;  returns 
to  the  United  States,  in  ;  trav- 
ersed 9000  miles  in  two  and  a 
half  years,  in. 

Lewis,  Meriwether,  appointed  to 
lead  exploring  party,  97 ; 
chooses  Captain  Clarke  as 
second,  97;  sends  specimens 
to  Jefferson,  102;  makes 
friends  with  Shoshones,  106; 
shoots  an  Indian,  no ;  gov- 
ernor of  Louisiana,  in  ;  death, 
in. 

Lewis  River,  108. 

Liberator,  the,  290. 

Liberty  and  Union,  26. 

Liberty  party,  164. 

Lincoln,  Governor,  205. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  birth  and  boy- 
hood, 311;  appearance,  312; 
nominated  for  Senate,  318 ; 
challenges  Douglas  to  joint 
debate,  321 ;  made  conspicu- 
ous by  debate  with  Douglas, 
334 ;  his  election  to  presidency, 

335- 

Lincoln-Douglas  Debates,  ex- 
tracts, 324;  results,  332. 

Livingston,  Robert  R.,  member 
of  committee  on  Declaration, 
19 ;  pronounces  oath  of  office 


392 


INDEX 


to  Washington,  63  ;  partner  of 
Fulton,  88. 

Lockport,  221. 

Log  Cabin  and  Hard  Cider  cam- 
paign, 232  sg. 

Lopez,  Narcisco,  180. 

Los  Angeles,  247. 

Lottery,  prevalence  of,  75. 

Louisiana  Purchase,  97,  157,  164, 
242. 

Louisville,  124. 

Lovejoy,  E.  P.,  263. 

Lowndes,  William,  161. 

Lundy,  Benjamin,  263. 

Lutheran  church,  225. 

Lyon,  Matthew,  member  of  Con- 
gress, 72 ;  fights  Griswold  in 
House,  73 ;  imprisoned  under 
Sedition  Law,  74 ;  reelected  to 
Congress  while  in  prison,  75. 

MacKenzie,  William  Lyon,  leads 
revolt  in  Upper  Canada,  210; 
not  successful,  212. 

Madison,  James,  in  Virginia  con- 
vention, 13;  elected  to  Consti- 
tutional Convention,  36 ;  wrote 
Virginia  Resolutions,  76 ;  347. 

Madison  River,  108. 

Mahas  Indians,  101. 

Maine,  seeks  admission  into 
Union,  162. 

Marcy,  William  L.,  298. 

Marietta,  123,  124;  boats  built 
at,  129. 

Marquette,  96. 

Marshal,  John,  presides  at  Burr's 
trial,  137. 

Marshall,  James  W.,  discovers 
gold  in  California,  245 ;  later 
life  and  death;  monument  to, 
253  (note). 

Martin,  Luther,  defends  Burr,  137. 

Maryland,  legislature  of,  instruc- 


ted delegates  in  Congress,  4-, 
makes  compact  with  Virginia, 

3°- 
Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  160,  281, 

329- 

Mason,  George,  13. 

Massachusetts  one  of  the  three 
greatest  colonies,  15 ;  delega- 
tion from,  15;  attempts  to  re- 
strict slave-trade,  150;  first 
free  State,  152. 

Maximilian,  183 ;  shot  in  Mexico, 
185. 

May,  Samuel,  273. 

McKean,  Thomas,  17. 

McKinley,  William,  appoints 
Nicaragua  Canal  Commission, 
178. 

McLeod,  Alexander,  foolish 
boast  of,  217 ;  arrested,  217 ; 
British  Government  demands 
his  release,  218 ;  trial  and  ac- 
quittal, 222. 

Merry,  English  minister,  125. 

Mexican  War,  242,  258. 

Mexico,  proposed  conquest  by 
Burr,  125,  127,  179;  badly 
governed,  182;   dismembered, 

243- 

Milk  River,  102. 

Miners,  251 ;  character  of,  253  sq. 

Mines,  gold,  251 ;  yield  of,  252. 

Mississippi  River,  93,  132. 

Mississippi  Valley,  122;  Burr's 
designs  on,  125 ;  danger  of 
uprising  in,  130,  195. 

Missouri,  applies  for  statehood, 
157 ;  admitted  into  the  Union, 
165. 

Missouri  Compromise,  149 ; 
moved  by  Senator  Thomas, 
163 ;  passed  by  both  houses, 
164;  a  victory  for  the  South, 
165  ;   brought  temporary  peace, 


INDEX 


393 


166;  repealed  by  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill,  166,  301. 

Missouri  River,  Lewis  and  Clarke 
ascend,  99 ;  Great  Falls  of,  103. 

Monroe,  James,  signs  Missouri 
Compromise,  164;  "last  and 
least  of  the  great  Virginians," 
167  ;  unanimous  election,  167  ; 
issues  Monroe  Doctrine,  169. 

Monroe  Doctrine,  how  origi- 
nated, 168  ;  settled  policy  be- 
fore declared,  168 ;  contained 
in  President's  message,  169; 
contents,  171-172;  in  opera- 
tion, 173  sq. ;  in  settling  the 
Oregon  boundary,  175 ;  Yuca- 
tan, 175 ;  Panama  and  Nica- 
ragua, 177  ;  Cuba  and  Mexico, 
179 ;  Venezuela,  187 ;  remarks 
on,  191. 

Monterey,  259. 

Morris,  Gouverneur,  member  of 
Constitutional  Convention,  39. 

Morris,  Robert,  member  of  Con- 
tinental Congress,  16;  in 
debtor's  prison,  16. 

Mosquito  Coast,  177. 

Mount  Vernon,  Washington  re- 
tires to,  54 ;  Thompson  reaches, 

57- 
Mutiny  Act,  6. 

Naples,  170. 

Napoleon  I.,  134,  169,  170,  382. 

Napoleon  III.,  183. 

Nashville,  124  ;  Burr's  reception 
at,  125,  129;  gives  ball  in  honor 
of  Burr,  130. 

Natchez,  132. 

National  Government,  blended 
with  State  governments,  362; 
has  no  power  beyond  the  Con- 
stitution, 371 ;  complexity  of, 
377  ;  stability  of,  379. 


National  laws,  368;  higher  than 
State  laws,  370. 

National  Republican  party,  see 
Democratic  party. 

Naturalization  Law,  70. 

Navy  Island,  213. 

Nelson,  Colonel,  14. 

Newcomen,  82. 

New  England,  took  lead  for  in- 
dependence, 14 ;  colonies  form 
union  in  1643,  28. 

New  Granada,  176. 

New  Hampshire,  quarrels  with 
New  York,  33 ;  becomes  free 
State,  153. 

New  Jersey,  legislature  instructed 
delegates  in  Congress,  4 ;  quar- 
rels with  New  York,  33  ;  elects 
delegates  to  Constitutional 
Convention,  37;  ratifies  Con- 
stitution, 49;  had  slaves  till 
1840,  153. 

New  Orleans,  Burx  reaches,  126. 

New  York,  withholds  instructions 
for  independence,  19 ;  ratifies 
Declaration,  22  ;  refuses  impost 
tariff,  32;  quarrels  with  New 
Hampshire,  33 ;  with  New 
Jersey  and  Connecticut,  33; 
does  not  vote  for  first  Presi- 
dent, 56;  welcomes  Washing- 
ton, 61 ;    becomes  free  State, 

153- 

New  York  City,  Washington  in- 
augurated in,  61 ;  honors  La- 
fayette, 198. 

Ney,  Marshal,  134. 

Niagara  Falls,  214* 

Nicaragua,  176. 

Nicholas,  George,  yj. 

North,  contention  with  the. South 
on  slavery  began,  148 ;  grew 
listless,  159 ;  offended  by  Fugi- 
tive Slave  Law,   265;  overrun 


394 


INDEX 


by  sJave-hunters,  267 ;  protests 

against  the   Kansas-Nebraska 

Bill,  303  sq. 
North  Bend,  231. 
North  Carolina,   first  colony  to 

move    for    independence,    12; 

remains  out  of  Union,  52. 
North    star,    guide    to    fugitive 

slaves,  278. 
Northern      States,      emancipate 

slaves  after    Revolution,    152; 

disapprove     Democratic    pol- 
icy, 356. 
Northwest  Territory,  government 

of.  153. 

Oberlin  College,  275. 

Ohio  River,  98 ;  its  beauty,  123 ; 
Harrison  buried  on  its  banks, 
240. 

Olney,  Richard,  187. 

Omnibus  Bill,  261,  295,  353. 

Oregon  boundary,  242. 

Ordinance  of  1787,  153. 

Ostend  Manifesto,  181. 

Otis,  James,  early  leader  for  in- 
dependence, 5. 

Ottawa,  323,  328. 

Otto  Indians,  100. 

Pacific  Coast,  colonized  by  Rus- 
sia, 172,  248. 

Pacific  Ocean,  first  sighted  by 
Lewis  and  Clarke,  109. 

Paine,  Thomas,  wrote  "  Common 
Sense,"  10. 

Panama  Canal,  176. 

Panama  Congress,  174. 

Panic  of  1837,  223,  224;  causes, 
224. 

Papinau,  Louis  J.,  leads  revolt  in 
Lower  Canada,  210;  not  suc- 
cessful, 212. 

Parker,  Theodore,  274,  290. 


Parties,  political,  first  formed,  49; 
one  hundred  years  ago,  65; 
earliest,  339. 

Patriotism,  twofold  in  the  United 
States,  360. 

Penn,  Richard,  carries  petition  to 
King,  7. 

Pennsylvania,  legislature  of,  in- 
structs delegates  in  Congress, 
4 ;  majority  of  delegates  oppose 
independence,  21 ;  quarrels 
with  Connecticut  over  Wyom- 
ing, 34 ;  second  State  to  adopt 
Constitution,  49 ;  attempts  to 
restrict  increase  of  slaves,  150. 

Pennsylvania  Germans  protest 
against  slavery,  151. 

People,  supreme  in  United 
States,  307. 

Perkins  arrests  Burr,  134. 

Petition  to  King,  6 ;  reception  of, 

7- 

Philadelphia,  independence  de- 
clared at,  1 ;  honors  Washing- 
ton, 58 ;  Burr  reaches,  121 ; 
honors  Lafayette,  199 ;  356. 

Phillips,  Wendell,  274. 

Pierce,  Franklin,  298. 

Pinckney,  Charles,  161. 

Pinckney,  Charles  C,  39. 

Pinkney,  William,  162. 

Pittsburg,  Burr  reaches,  122, 
230;  birthplace  of  Republican 
party,  356. 

Platte  River,  100. 

Polk,  James  K.,  175,  180. 

Pope,  Alexander,  40. 

Popular  Sovereignty,  327. 

Population,  House  based  on,  43. 

President  of  United  States,  how 
elected,  47  ;  limits  of  his  power, 

375- 
Proclamation  of  George  III.,  8. 
Proclamation  of  Jefferson,  130. 


INDEX 


395 


Proclamation  of  Neutrality,  168. 
Prohibition  of  slave-trade,  156. 
Prussia,  169. 

Putnam,  Rufus, "  Father  of  Ohio," 
123. 

Quakers,  see  Friends. 
Quarrels  of  the  States,  32. 
Quincy,  Josiah,  205. 

Railroad,  Underground,  see  Un- 
derground Railroad. 

Randolph,  Edmond,  in  Constitu- 
tional Convention,  38. 

Randolph,  John,  164. 

Raritan,  the,  94. 

Republics,  South  American,  see 
South  American  Republics. 

Republican,  National,  see  Dem- 
ocratic. 

Republican  party,  remotest  rivu- 
let from  which  sprung,  355 ; 
birth-place,  356 ;  distinctive 
principles,  356 ;  not  at  first  an 
abolition  party,  357 ;  adapta- 
bility of,  358 ;  outlook,  358 ; 
achievements,  359. 

Revere,  Paul,  17,  50. 

Revolution,  1,  9. 

Rhode  Island  instructs  for  inde- 
pendence, 13;  refuses  impost 
tax,  31 ;  refuses  to  send  dele- 
gates to  Constitutional  Con- 
vention, 37 ;  ills  of  the  country 
blamed  on  it,  41 ;  remains  out 
of  Union,  52. 

Ricaras  Indians,  101. 

Richmond,  seat  of  Burr's  trial, 
136 ;  285 ;  289. 

Rocky  Mountains,  reached  by 
Lewis  and  Clarke,  103. 

Rocky  Mountains,  Gates  of,  104. 

Rodney,  Caesar,  his  ride  from 
Delaware  to  Philadelphia,  17. 


Royal  African  Company,  151. 
Rumsey,  James,  83. 
Rush,  Richard,  171. 
Russell,  Lord  John,  209. 
Russia,   in   Holy  Alliance,   169; 

colonizes    Pacific    coast,    172, 

378. 
Rutledge,  John,  39. 

Sacramento  River,  244. 

Sacramento  Valley,  250,  252. 

Salisbury,  Lord,  answers  Olney, 
188. 

San  Diego,  247. 

San  Francisco,  244,  246,  247, 
250. 

San  Joaquin  Valley,  252. 

Santa  Barbara,  247. 

Schomburgk  line,  186. 

Scott,  Winfield,  sent  north  by 
Van  Buren,  211,  257;  candi- 
date of  Whigs  for  President, 
296 ;  defeated,  353. 

Second  of  July,  National  birth- 
day, 21. 

Sedition  Law,  see  Alien  and  Sedi- 
tion Laws. 

Seine  River,  Fulton's  experiments 
on,  88. 

Senate,  United  States,  equal  rep- 
resentation in,  43  ;  at  variance 
with  House  on  Missouri  ques- 
tion, 158  sq.\  sends  agents  to 
Panama  Congress,  174;  bal- 
ance in,  broken,  262. 

Serfdom,  149. 

Seward,   William   H.,   221,  261, 

295.  304.335. 
Sherman,  Roger,  16,  19. 
Shoshone  Indians,  105. 
Sierra   Nevada   Mountains,  245, 

252. 
Sioux  Indians,  101. 
Sixteenth  Congress,  161  sq. 


396 


INDEX 


Slaves,  three-fifths  counted  in 
census,  44. 

Slavery,  during  colonial  period, 
149 ;  introduced  into  Europe, 
Central,  and  South  America, 
149 ;  under  the  Constitution, 
155  sq. ;  should  be  prohibited 
in  the  Territories,  327. 

Slave-trade,  left  open  for  twenty- 
one  years  by  Constitution,  46, 

154. 

Smith,  Gerrit,  273. 

Smith,  John,  senator  from  Ohio, 
125. 

Smith,  William,  271. 

Smuggling,  154. 

Songs,  campaign,  of  1840,  234. 

South,  the,  took  lead  for  inde- 
pendence, 14;  favors  counting 
slaves  in  census,  44;  claims  that 
slavery  was  necessary  to  their 
prosperity,  155 ;  exhaustion  of 
territory,  242;  furnished  sol- 
diers in  Mexican  War,  242; 
offended  at  free  California, 
259;  in  minority  in  Lower 
House,  262;  alarmed  at  abo- 
lition sentiment  in  the  North, 
264;  not  responsible  for  Fugi- 
tive Slave  Law,  265  ;  threatens 
secession,  267;  congratulated 
on  results  of  Civil  War,  292; 
offended  by  Douglas's  Free- 
port  Doctrine,  333. 

South  America,  slavery  in,  149. 

South  American  Republics,  169, 
170;  recognized  by  the  United 
States,  170;  rejoice  in  Monroe 
Doctrine,  173;  are  protected 
by  it,  173. 

South  Carolina,  protests  against 
prohibiting  African  slave-trade, 
45  ;  attempts  to  restrict  slave- 
trade,  150 ;  carries  slavery  into 


Georgia,  151  ;  re-opens  slave, 
trade,  156. 

Southern  States,  prohibit  slave- 
trade,  156 ;  and  passim. 

Spain,  169;  reduced  by  Napo- 
leon, 170 ;  interferes  in  Mexico, 
182. 

Specie  circular,  224. 

Sprague,  Charles,  198. 

Stamp  Act,  6. 

States,  the,  relation  of  to  the 
Union,  360  sq. ;  origin  of,  362 ; 
have  no  foreign  relations,  373. 

States'  Rights,  361 ;  our  great 
safeguard  of  liberty,  381. 

State  authority,  371. 

State  laws,  368. 

State  Sovereignty,  361. 

Staten  Island,  196. 

States,  Northern,  see  Northern 
States. 

States,  Southern,  see  Southern 
States. 

St.  Clair,  230. 

Steam  navigation,  wrought  a 
revolution,  80;  first  attempted 
by  William  Henry,  82. 

Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  296. 

Stoddard,  Fort,  134. 

Sumner,  Charles,  274,  304. 

Sutter,  John  A.,  built  fort,  244; 
possessions  of,  244;  apprised 
of  gold  discovery,  246 ;  later 
career  of,  253  (note). 

Swiss  Government,  375. 

Syracuse,  273. 

Talmadge,  James,  158,  159,161. 
Tariff,  left  to  Congress  by  Consti- 
tution, 46;   not  a  party  issue, 

357- 
Taylor,  John  W.,  158,  159,  161. 
Taylor,  Zachary,  257 ;  death,  262, 
Texas,  242. 


INDEX 


397 


Thames,  battle  of  the,  231. 

Theodosia  Burr,  daughter  of 
Aaron  Burr,  119;  goes  West 
with  him,  128;  attends  Burr's 
trial,  138;  devotion  to  her 
father,  140;   death,  143. 

Thomas,  senator  from  Illinois, 
moves  Missouri  Compromise, 
163. 

Thompson,  Charles,  signs  Decla- 
ration of  Independence,  22; 
carries  news  of  election  to 
Washington,  56. 

Thornton,  Alfred,  280. 

Tippecanoe,  226. 

Tompkins,  Daniel  D.,  receives 
Lafayette,  196. 

Toombs,  Robert,  296, 

Tories,   10;    during   Revolution, 

339- 

Trenton,  honors  Washington, 
59-60. 

Tribune,  New  York,  advocates 
reelection  of  Douglas  to  Sen- 
ate, 317 ;  355. 

Tyler,  John,  161 ;  nominated  for 
vice-presidency,  228;  becomes 
President,  239. 

Underground  Railroad,  meaning 
of  term,  263;  in  operation, 
275  sq. 

Union,  formed,  24  sq. ;  with  the 
States,  361 ;  origin  of,  362. 

United  States,  born  July  2,  1776, 
21;  condition  before  adoption 
of  Constitution,  25^. ;  declines 
tripartite  agreement,  181 ;  in- 
terferes in  Venezuelan  bound- 
ary dispute,  187. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  issues  proc- 
lamation against  abetting  Ca- 
nadian  rebels,  211;    demands 


redress  for  destruction  of  the 
Caroline,  215 ;  223. 

Venezuela,  boundary  dispute, 
185;  offers  to  compromise, 
186. 

Verona,  169. 

Vigilance  Committee,  276,  285. 

Virginia,  convention  at  Williams- 
burg, 13 ;  instructs  delegates 
to  propose  independence,  14; 
makes  compact  with  Maryland, 
30;  elects  delegates  to  Consti- 
tutional Convention,  36;  slavery 
introduced  into,  149;  attempts 
to  check  slave-trade,  150; 
carries  slavery  into  North 
Carolina,  151 ;  came  near 
emancipating,  153. 

Wade,  Benjamin,  304. 

Wakefield,  132. 

Walla  Walla  Indians,  no. 

Walker,  Robert  J.,  314 ;  governor 
of  Kansas,  315. 

War,  Civil,  see  Civil  War. 

War  of  1812,  157,  230. 

War,  Mexican,  see  Mexican 
War. 

Warren,  Joseph,  predicts  free- 
dom for  America,  5. 

Washington,  Fort,  230. 

Washington,  George,  writes  letter 
against  independence,  5 ;  at 
head  of  army,  15 ;  makes 
peace  between  New  York  and 
New  Hampshire,  33;  elected 
to  Constitutional  Convention, 
36 ;  president  of  Constitutional 
Convention,  40 ;  elected  Presi- 
dent, 55  ;  leaves  Mount  Vernon, 
57 ;  journey  to  New  York,  57 
sq. ;  inauguration,  62;  holds 
first  place  in  American  heart, 
64;       opinion     of     Rumsey's 


39« 


INDEX 


steamboat,    83;    above    party 
lines,  342. 

Watershed,  107. 

Watt,  James,  82. 

Wayne,  Anthony,  230. 

Webster,  Daniel,  author  of 
"  Supposed  Speech  of  John 
Adams,"  20;  162;  233;  secre- 
tary of  state  under  Harrison, 
238 ;  261 ;  candidate  for  Whig 
nomination,  296. 

Weed,  Thurlow,  226;  quoted, 
376. 

Wesley,  John,  151. 

West,  the,  a  wilderness,  96; 
would  be  severed  from  East 
but  for  railroad  and  telegraph, 
118;  social  conditions  deter- 
mined, 241. 

Western  Reserve,  34. 

Westminster  Review,  183. 

Wetzel,  Lewis,  98. 

Whig  party,  demoralized  condi- 
tion in  185?.  295 ;  tottering  to 
its  fall,  299 ;  posthumous  child 
of  Federal  party,  351 ;  had  but 
one  rival,  351;  tendency,  351; 
dissolution,  353. 

Whigs,  blame  Democrats  for 
panic  of  1837,  224;  hold  con- 
vention   at    Harrisburg,    225; 


make  log  cabin  and  hard 
cider  symbols  of  campaign, 
233;     during   Revolution,  339. 

Wilkinson,  James,  in  Burr's 
conspiracy,  126;  129;  writes 
Jefferson  betraying  Burr,  130. 

Willet,  Colonel,  197. 

Williamson,  Passmore,  283;  res- 
cues slave  woman,  imprisoned, 
284. 

Wilson,  James,  member  of  Con- 
tinental Congress,  16;  justice 
of  Supreme  Court,  16;  most 
learned  lawyer  in  America,  16; 
anecdote,  40. 

Wirt,  William,  137. 

Women,  dearth  of  in  California, 
256;  effect  on  community, 
257- 

Wyoming  Valley,  34. 

X,  Y,  Z  Mission,  68-69. 

Yeamans,  Sir  John,  introduces 
slavery   into    South    Carolina, 

I5i- 

Yellowstone  River,  102. 

York  River  r  108. 

Yucatan,  appeals  to  United  States, 
England,  and  Spain  for  protec- 
tion, 175,  176. 


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